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HISTORY OF 

THE WAE OF 1812 



HETWEEN 



G R K A 'r B U I T A I N 



AND 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



Hv JAMES HANNAY, D.C.L. 

AUTHOR OF "a HISTORY OF ACADIA," "LIFE AND TIMES OK 
SIR LEONARD TILLEY," ETC. 



roll ONTO 

MO RANG cV CO. LIMITED 

1905 



H3& 



Entered accordiyig to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year one thousand nine 
hundred and five, by Morang & Co., Limited, in the Department of Agriculture 










PREFACE 

This book has been written for the purpose of plachig 
before the people of Canada, in a single volume, the story of 
the defence of our country from foreign invasion tluring the 
last war between Great Britain and the United States of 
America. As this defence could not have been successful but 
for the hearty cooperation of our ancestors, the people of 
Canada of that day, this war ought to be regarded as 
Canada's first and greatest contrilrution to the work of em- 
pire l)uil(Ung, for the fervent loyalty, which a few years ago, 
sent so many of the sons of Canada to fight the battles of 
Great Britain in South Africa, received its first illustration on 
the battleHelds of the War of 1812. 

I have not thought it necessary to burden the pages of 
this book with foot notes and references to authorities, 
because the ofhcial sources of our knowledge of the war are 
so few in number as to render such references unnecessary. 
For the movements of the armies, the numbers of the British 
troops engaged, and the losses of the latter, I have relied on 
the British ofhcial despatches. For the numbers of the 
American armies and their losses, I have accepted the Ameri- 
can official despatches, except where they were manifestly in 
error. 

No doubt it will be said by some critics that in this book I 
have been too severe on the Americans wiio invaded our 
country, burnt our towns, ravaged our fields, slaughtered our 
peo{)le and tried to ])lace us under a foreign flag. But I 
maintain that any Canadian author lias a right to challenge 
the motives and the coiickict of the men who chd these things, 
and I see no reason why any American of the present day 
should feel offended at reflections on the actions of men who 
lived ninety years ago. While endeavouring to present an 
absolutely truthful narrative of the War of 1812, I have not 
felt it necessary to refrain from criticizing the conduct of the 
men who were responsible for the contest or who t(Jok j)art 
in it. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

CAUSES WIIICTI LED TO THE WAR 1 



CHAPTER II 
WAR DECLARED BY I'I{ESIDENT MADISON ... 17 

CHAPTER III 
GENERAL HULL INVADES CANADA 31 

CHAPTER IV 
SURRENDER OF HULL'S ARMY 50 

CHAPTER V 
BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 66 

CHAPTER VI 
ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 85 

CHAPTER VII 
FAILURE OF DEARBORN'S CAMPAIGN .... 98 

CHAPTER VIII 
OPERATIONS ON THE DETROIT FRONTIER .11.3 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 



THE CAPTURE OF YORK 127 

CHAPTER X 
FORT GEORGE AND SACKETTS HARBOUR . • 145 

CHAPTER XI 
BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 158 

CHAPTER XII 
PROCTER'S DEFEAT ON THE THAMES . • • -180 

CHAPTER XIII 
CHATEAUGUAY AND CHRYSTLER'S FIELD . . =202 

CHAPTER XIV 
THE BURNING OF NEWARK 221 

CHAPTER XV 
WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE . . . .240 

CHAPTER XVI 
CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 259 



CONTEXTS 



CHAPTER AT// 

PAGK 

THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 291 



CHAPTER XVIII 
PLATTSBURG • . . .311 

CHAPTER XIX 
THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON 337 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAOE 

Map of the Xiagara Peninsula ..... Frontispiece 

James Madison ......... 18 

Sir George Prevost 25 

Major-General Isaac Brock ..... 27 

General William Hull 29 

Mackinac To-daj- — The Fort ...... " 34 

Mackinac To-day — From the Fort ...... 3.5 

Fort Collier, built on Drummond Island after Mackinac was restored 

to the United States in 1815 37 

Operations on the Detroit Frontier ...... 39 

Amherstburg on the Detroit River . . . . . .41 

Blockhouse built in 1812, opposite Amherstburg, on Bois Blanc Island 53 

Tecuinseh ........... 56 

Officer of Light Infantry Company, 41st Regiment . . . .59 

Gold Medal awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonell . . 64 

General Dearborn ......... 67 

Operations on the Xiagara Frontier ...... 69 

Fort Xiagara (U.S.) ......... 71 

Looking down the X'iagara River from Queenston Heights towards 

Lake Ontario ......... 74 

Major Thon\as Merritt, U.E.L. 78 

Captain William Hamilton Merritt ...... 79 

Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott ...... 81 

A Sword Surrendered after the Battle of Queenston Heights . 82 

Brock's Monument on Queenston Heights .... 83 

A Sergeant of the Grenadier Company of the 49th Regiment . 89 

The first Monument erected to the Memor}- of General Brock . 97 



xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Major De Salaberry ......... 101 

Colonel Zebulon Pike 105 

A Naval Engagement in 1812-14 Ill 

The Battle of Frenchtown 118 

Sir James L. Yeo 129 

Western Entrance to Toronto Bay, Looking West from the Bay, as 

it appeared in 1838 ........ 137 

Map Showing the Attack on York (Toronto) in 1813 . . . 141 

Bishop Strachan ........ 143 

Plan of Fort George . . . , 146 

Operations at Sacketts Harbour, May, 1813 .... 154 

The Stoney Creek Battle-Ground 161 

Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Sir John) Harvey . . . 162 

Grenadiers of the 8th, King's Regiment ..... 165 

Laura Secord .......... 167 

Laura Secord's Monument in the Graveyard at Lundy's Lane . 169 

Plan of the Battle of Lake Erie, September 18th, 1813 . . 189 

Battle of Moravian Town, October, 1813 198 

Fort Coteau, near Montreal ....... 205 

Map of the Battle of Chateauguay 207 

Map of the Battle of Chrystler's Field ... .215 

A Farm-House in 1812 223 

Captain of United States Infantry, 1813 225 

How the City of Buffalo remembers the War of 1812-14 . . 233 

The Shannon taking the captured Chesapeake into Halifax Harbour 237 

Map of the Attack on La Colle Mill, March 30th, 1814 . . 247 

Trooper of the 19th Light Dragoons ..... 263 

Fort Mississagua ......... 269 

Map of the Battle of Lundy's Lane ..... 277 

The Battle of Lundy's Lane ....... 283 

Colonel Titus Geer Simons, U.E.L. . . ... 285 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv 

PAGE 

The Monument at Lundy's Lane 287 

Medal Struck in Honour of Cioneral Hrown .... 289 

Map of Plattsburg 321 

Fort Erie and the Battle of Septemhcr 1 Till, ISl 4 . . . 329 

Medal Struck in Honour of (Icneral Ripley .... 331 

A Bronze Tablet Recently Erected in Buffalo .... 333 

A Medal prepared about 1815 by the Loyal and Patriotic Society, 

but never Distriljuted ....... 33.5 

Battle of Bladensburg, near Washington 347 

Battle of North Point, near Haltimore 3ft2 



THE WAR OF l8l2 

CHAPTER I 

CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR 

The war which began in the year 1S12 between Great Bri- 
tain and the United States of America, although it originated 
in an imperial quarrel, and was carried on mainly by British 
money and largely by British troops, was essentially a Can- 
adian contest. Canada was the scene of most of the battles 
of the war; it was for the purpose of separating Canada from 
the British crown that the war was undertaken; and it was 
owing to the loyalty, constancy and courage of the Canadian 
people that this object was foiled. Everj^ Canadian can, 
therefore, look back with feelings of just pride to this war so 
honourable to his ancestors, and so worthy of being remem- 
bered for the example which it affords of the difficulty of sub- 
duing a resolute and free people with arms in their hands and 
with the courage to use them. 

At the close of the War of the Revolution there was much 
bitterness felt towards Great Britain by the people who had 
won their independence from her by the sword. This indepen- 
dence had been gained by the assistance of France, and al- 
though that country was then a monarchy, beyond all com- 
parison more illiberal than the government of Great Britain, 
it was perhaps but natural that the new nation should turn to 
France and cultivate her friendship. The tremendous revo- 
lution which broke out in that country a few years later, at 
first only served to cement the ties of sympathy between 



2 THE WAR OF 1812 

France and the United States; and although its subsequent 
excesses estranged Washington and many other eminent men, 
there still remained a large and extremely violent party, headed 
by Jefferson, which was ready to condone all the faults of 
the French republic, and which felt an undying enmity to 
Great Britain. It was at this period that parties began to 
form themselves, and that the terms " Federalist, " and '' Demo- 
crat, " were heard for the first time. The Democrats, of whom 
Jefferson was the head, showed an extreme hostility to Great 
Britain, while the Federalists, although not deficient in patriot- 
ism, held much more moderate views and were disposed to 
cultivate her friendship. 

The war which broke out in 1792 between France and 
Great Britain, and which continued with but a short interval 
for more than twenty years, drew still more sharply the lines 
between these two parties. The French government sent 
out "Citizen" Genet as minister to the United States, and he 
forthwith proceeded, with the the active cooperation of the 
anti-British party, to make that country a base for the pro- 
secution of war against the commerce of Great Britain. Wash- 
ington, who was then president, issued a proclamation of 
neutrality, warning citizens of the United States not to take 
part in the contest, but so strong was the feeling in favour of 
France, that the proclamation and its author were assailed 
in such terms as a citizen of the United States of the present 
day must blush to read. It was styled a "royal edict," "a 
daring and unwarrantable assumption of executive power," 
and Washington was denounced as a "Monarchist," and a 
friend of England. Many of these attacks on the president 
appeared in the National Gazette, but it was not until Freneau, 
its editor, was nearing the dark valley of death that it was 
disclosed that these violent articles against Washington were 
written or dictated by Thomas Jefferson, who figures as the 
author of the Declaration of Independence, and who, at the 
very time these attacks were made, was secretary of state in 
Washington's Cabinet. 

The French minister. Genet, in defiance of Washington's 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR 3 

proclamation, proceeded to fit out privateers in Philadelphia 
to prey upon British commerce, these privateers being manned 
by citizens of the United States. When the president re- 
leased some British prizes which had been taken by them 
and carried into Philadelphia to be condenmed, Genet stormed 
and raved and announced his intention of appealing from the 
president to the people. This was virtually a threat to excite 
an insurrection for the purpose of overthrowing the authority 
of a chief magistrate elected by the people ; yet so mentally 
debauched hatl Jefferson become that his newspaper actually 
sustained Genet in this course. The organ of this model sec- 
retary of state expressed the hope that the friends of France 
would act with firnmess and spirit, saying, " The people 
are his friends, or the friends of France, and he will have 
nothing to apprehend." It turned out, however, that 
"Citizen" Genet had something to apprehend, — the indigna- 
tion of Washington, who requested the French government 
to recall its minister. 

In the meantime the death struggle between Great Britain 
and France was producing a series of retaliatory measures 
which proved ruinous to the neutral trader. In June, 1793, 
an order-in-council was issued by the British government 
declaring that all vessels laden with breadstuffs bound to 
any port of France, or places occupied by French armies, 
should be carried to England, and their cargoes either dis- 
posed of there, or security given that they would be sold only 
in a country which was friendly towards Great Britain. This 
was followed in November of the same year by another order- 
in-council which directed British war vessels and privateers to 
detain all ships carrying the produce of any colony belonging 
to France, or conveying provisions or other supplies for the 
use of such colonies, and to bring the same with their cargoes 
to legal adjudication in the British courts of admiralty. 

These orders-in-council fell with heavy effect on the com- 
merce of the United States, and produced a corresponding 
degree of indignation. This was increased by another measure 
adopted about the same time by the British government — 



4 THE WAR OF 1812 

the impressment of British seamen found on board of Ameri- 
can vessels. This measure was based on the doctrine, then 
recognized by all European nations, that a subject could not 
renounce his allegiance, and that the government under 
whose flag he was born had a right to his services wherever he 
might be found. This involved the right of search both of 
war vessels and commercial ships — a claim most obnoxious 
in every way, but more especially as the exercise of this right 
was liable to great abuse. It is singular that in 1861, long 
after the right of search had been abandoned by Great Bri- 
tain, it was revived by Commodore Wilkes of the United 
States navy, when he boarded the British mail steamer Trent, 
and took from her Messrs. Mason and Slidell, the Confederate 
commissioners then on their way to England. It is still more 
singular that this act, so universally condemned in Great 
Britain, was almost as universally approved by public opinion 
in the United States; so true is it that nations are generally 
guided in their views of public questions by motives of ex- 
pediency and self-interest. Congress, in 1812, regarded the 
exercise of the right of search by Great Britain as a " crying 
enormity," and declared war against her for that cause, yet 
Congress in 1861 passed a vote of thanks to Commodore 
Wilkes for his exercise of the right of search in an extremely 
aggravated form. In neither case was Congress fortunate in 
its expression of opinion, for in 1815 the government of the 
United States was forced to conclude a treaty of peace with 
Great Britain in which the right of search, the ostensible 
cause of the war, was not so much as mentioned, while in 
1861, a few days after the vote of thanks was passed, the 
same government was obliged to give up Messrs. Mason 
and Slidell, on the demand of the British government, and 
acknowledge itself in the wrong. 

For the purpose of endeavouring to effect a settlement of 
the difficulties which had arisen out of the enforcement of 
the orders-in-council and the right of search, Washington 
sent John Jay, chief justice of the United States, as envoy 
extraordinary to the court of Great Britain. The result of 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR 5 

this mission was what is known as the Jay Treaty, which, 
after providing for the disposal of most of the unsettled ques- 
tions between the two countries, contained a mnnber of com- 
mercial provisions which proved of great advantage to the 
United States. Under it American vessels were allowed to 
enter British ports in Europe and the East Indies on equal 
terms with British vessels, while participation in the East 
Indian coasting trade, and trade between European and British 
East Indian ports was left to the contingency of British per- 
mission. American vessels not exceeding seventy tons were 
allowed to trade with the British West Indies on condition 
that they should not, during the continuance of the treaty, 
transport from America to Europe any of the principal colonial 
products. British vessels were to be admitted into American 
ports on the same terms as those of the most favoured nation. 
There were provisions for the protection of neutral property 
on the high seas; these provided that a vessel entering a bloc- 
kaded port should not be liable to ca]:)ture unless previously 
notified of the blockade. There were also arrangements to 
prevent the arming of the privateers of any nation at war 
with the two contracting parties, and the capture of goods in 
the bays and harbours of either nation. In the event of war 
between the two countries, the citizens or subjects of either 
were not to be molested, if peaceable ; and fugitives from justice 
charged with high crimes were to be mutually given up. The 
commercial arrangements of the treaty were limited in their 
operation to two years after the termination of the w^ar in 
which Great Britain was then engaged. The treaty was 
ratified by the Senate and signed by the president in the sum- 
mer of 1795. 

It might have been supposed that this treaty, which was 
extremely favourable to the commerce of the United States, 
would have been received with satisfaction by the people of 
that country, but it was far otherwise. The Democrats had 
resolved to oppose it no matter what its provisions might be, 
especially if it should remove all pretext for a war with Great 
Britain. They had already disclosed the spirit which influ- 



6 THE WAR OF 1812 

encecl them by their violent opposition to Jay's appointment, 
and when the treaty was before the Senate efforts were 
made to intimidate the members of that body so that they 
might refuse to ratify it. Democratic newspapers told their 
readers that they should blush to think, "America should 
degrade herself so much as to enter into any kind of a treaty 
with a power now tottering on the brink of ruin." France, 
according to these newspapers, was the natural ally of the 
United States, and the nation on whom their political exist- 
ence depended. ''The nation on whom our political exist- 
ence depends," said one of these publications, "we have 
treated with indifference bordering on contempt. Let us 
unite with France and stand or fall together." These words 
so truthfully stated the result of the War of 1812 that they 
may be regarded as almost prophetic. The United States 
did virtually unite with France, and together they fell. 

When the treaty was ratified and signed, Mr. Jay, the 
senators, and the president became the objects of a storm of 
vituperation from the entire Democratic party. Jay was de- 
nounced as a traitor who had been purchased by British gold 
and was threatened with the guillotine. Hamilton and other 
speakers who attempted to defend the treaty at a public 
meeting in New York were stoned by the friends of Jefferson 
who sat at the same council table with him. In Virginia 
secession was threatened, while in Charleston the British flag 
was trailed in the dust and burned at the door of the British 
consul. The people of the South, who held their fellow-men 
of another colour in bondage, and dealt in them as chattels, 
were greatly enraged because the treaty did not provide that 
they should be paid for such of their negroes as were carried 
away during the Revolutionary War. Others felt a sense of 
wrong and outrage because the treaty provided for the pay- 
ment of honest debts contracted before the war, such a stipu- 
lation being in their opinion wholly inconsistent with those 
principles of liberty which impelled the patriots of the Revo- 
lution to plunder their loyal neighbours, and confiscate their 
property. 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR ' 7 

The conduct of the Democratic party in 1795 sufficiently 
showed the violence of the animosity against Great Britain 
which existed in the minds of a large body of the people of 
the United States twelve years after the War of the Revolu- 
tion had been brought to a close. But when the treaty went 
into operation it was found to be highly advantageous to 
the merchants and shipowners of the United States. The 
French Directory, however, was greatly enraged, and issued a 
secret order authorizing French ships of war to treat neutral 
vessels in the same manner as they had suffered themselves 
to be treated by the English. Under this order many Ameri- 
can vessels were seized in the West Indies by French cruisers, 
and their crews treated with great indignity and cruelty. In- 
deed, at this period the French government showed a strong 
disposition to take entire charge of the politics of the United 
States, and Commodore Joshua Barney, an American in the 
naval service of France, who came to Philadelphia in 1796 
with two frigates which he commanded, told the citizens of 
that place that if Jefferson were not elected president, war 
would be declared by France against the United States within 
three months. So true was this, that the election of John 
Adams, a Federalist, who was chosen instead of Jefferson, 
resulted in the issuing of a decree by the French Directory 
which was equivalent to a declaration of war. It not only 
authorized the capture of American vessels under certain 
conditions, but declared that any American found on board 
of a hostile ship, although placed there by impressment, 
should be hanged as a pirate. The American minister was 
ordered to leave France and three envoys extraordinary who 
were sent in his place to arrange all matters in dispute were 
treated with contempt and refused an audience. All these 
circumstances produced great indignation in the United 
States, and in the spring of 1798, although no actual declara- 
tion of war had been issued, war with France was commenced 
on the ocean. The fall of the Directory and the assumption 
of authority by Bonaparte as first consul, however, speedily 
put an end to hostilities. 



8 THE WAR OF 1812 

This brief summary of the progress of events after the 
Revolution will serve to show more clearly the character of 
the questions which arose from time to time between the two 
nations, and which finally resulted in the War of 1812. The 
United States throughout the long war between Great Britain 
and France stood in the unfortunate position of a neutral 
power whose commerce was certain to suffer from the several 
orders-in-council and decrees which the belligerents launched 
against each other. The accession of Bonaparte to supreme 
power, although it brought the war between France and the 
United States to a close, instead of improving their condition 
as neutrals, made it much worse. In May, 1806, the British 
government declared the whole coast of Europe from the 
Elbe to Brest, the territory occupied by the French armies, 
to be in a state of blockade. In November of the same 
year Bonaparte issued the famous Berlin decree proclaiming 
the British Isles to be in a state of blockade, forbidding 
all correspondence or trade with England, and declaring 
all articles of English produce or manufacture contrabrand, 
and the property of all British subjects to be lawful 
prize of war. As the French fleets had been wholly 
destroyed, and the French government had scarcely a 
vessel at sea, this was simply a ''paper blockade." The 
same term has been applied by American writers to the 
British blockade of the eight hundred miles of coast from Brest 
to the Elbe, on the alleged ground that Great Britain had not 
sufficient ships to enforce it. Yet in 1806 the British navy 
numbered more than eight hundred vessels, manned by one 
hundred and forty thousand men. Some of the objectors 
to this so called "paper blockade" lived to see President 
Lincoln proclaim three thousand miles of the coast of the 
southern states to be blockaded, although the Federal navy 
of that period numbered only ninety vessels, of which less 
than half were in commission. 

The British answer to the Berlin decree was an order-in- 
council of November, 1807, by which all neutral trade with 
France or her allies was prohibited unless through Great 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR 9 

Britain. In December of the same year Bonaparte issued 
his Milan decree which was a sort of supplement to that of 
Berlin. It declared every vessel which submitted to be 
searched by British cruisers, or paid any tax, duty or 
license money to the British government, or was found on 
the high seas or elsewhere bound to or from any British 
port, to be denationalized and forfeited. Spain and Holland, 
at the dictation of France, immediately issued similar de- 
crees, and thus was established the famous continental system 
of Napoleon which crushed the neutral trader. It was a 
system which grew out of Bonaparte's determination to 
destroy Great Britain and break up the British empire, 
a resolve which was warmly approved by a large number 
of the people of the United States. In their insane 
hatred of England they were ready to aid in the destruction 
of the only constitutional government then existing in 
Europe, and in the establishment of the grinding military 
despotism of Bonaparte over the greater portion of the 
civilized world. 

While the British orders-in-council and Bonaparte's de- 
crees were agitating commercial circles in the United States, 
the impressment of British seamen found on board of Ameri- 
can vessels had become a source of great ill-feeling towards 
England. In 1800 the British minister had proposed a recip- 
rocal surrender of all deserters, but this was declined by 
the United States because the proposal was so worded as 
to sanction impressment on private vessels. They contended 
that the neutral flag was the safeguard of those sailing under 
it, a doctrine, the application of which was greatly in favour 
of the United States, as it enabled them to recruit their 
nav}^ with deserters from British ships. As a measure of 
retaliation, in March, 1806, the United States Congress passed 
a Non-Importation Act, prohibiting the importation of nearly 
every article of British manufacture. The Act was to be in 
abeyance until the following November, and in the mean- 
time negotiations were again opened for a treaty which 
should put an end to the difficulties between the two nations. 



IQ THE WAR OF 1812 

William Pinkney of Maryland was sent as envoy extraordinary 
to London to join with Monroe, the resident minister, m this 
work Negotiations commenced in August, and alter some 
delay a treaty was arranged in most respects more favourable 
than the Jay Treaty. The British government declined to 
relinquish the right of impressment by formal treaty but the 
British commissioners put into writing a statement that it 
was the intention of the government not to allow impress- 
ments from American vessels on the high seas except under 
extraordinary circumstances, such as having on board known 
deserters from the British navy. The new treaty placed the 
trade between the United States and the European possessions 
of Great Britain on a footing of perfect reciprocity. _ it was 
also stipulated that no American vessels could be visited or 
seized by British cruisers within five miles of the coast ot the 
United States. But the time spent in the negotiation ot this 
treaty was wasted, for Jefferson, who was then president had 
resolved upon a step which would effectually prevent it from 
going into operation. Instead of laying it before the Senate 
for ratification or rejection, as it was his duty to do, he usurped 
the authority which the constitution had vested m that body 
and entirely suppressed this important treaty, which would 
undoubtedly have been the means of insuring a lasting peace 
between the two countries. This action proved that Jefferson 
and his advisers did not desire any accommodation ot exist- 
ing grievances, but only war. 

At this juncture a very unfortunate affair took place which 
produced much ill-feeling. While a British squadron was near 
Cape Henry, Virginia, three of the crew of the frigate Melam- 
pus deserted. These men were enlisted on board the United 
States frigate Chesapeake, and a demand made by the British 
minister for their restoration was refused. The Chesaveake 
some time afterwards put to sea and was by the orders ot 
Vice-Admiral Berkeley, overhauled by the British 50-gun 
ship Leopard. Captain Humphreys, of that ship, demanded 
the delivery of the deserters on board the Chesapeake, and on 
this being refused poured several broadsides into the latter, 



CAUSES WHICH lAA) TO THE WAR 11 

killing three men and wounding eighteen, and compelling 
the American vessel to strike her flag. 

This act was immediately disavowed by the British govern- 
ment and the admiral recalled. In the United States the 
affair produced the liveliest indignation, which was not miti- 
gated in the least by the earnest efforts of Great Britain to 
settle the matter amicably. A proclamation was issued by 
the president forbidding all persons to have any intercourse 
with or to sell any supplies to British war vessels in the waters 
of the United States, and warlike preparations were made 
on an extensive scale. Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney were 
sent to England in the armed schooner Revenge to make a 
number of demands on the British government, including the 
abandonment of the right of search. Great Britain was quite 
ready to make reparation in the Chesapeake affair, but de- 
clined to treat on the other matters, Mr. Canning telling the 
envoys plainly, that, while he was ready to listen to any sug- 
gestions with a view to the removal of existing difficulties, 
he would not negotiate anew on the basis of a treaty concluded 
and signed and already rejected by one of the parties. 

The envoys returned home, and then was passed the famous 
Embargo Act which prohibited all vessels in the ports of the 
United States, except foreign ships in ballast, or with cargoes 
taken on board before the notification of the Act, from sailing 
for any foreign port. Coastwise vessels were required to 
give heavy bonds to land their cargoes in the United 
States. This Act, which is the most remarkable example 
on record of a nation destroying its own foreign trade in 
the hope of thereby injuring another nation with which it 
had large dealings, utterly failed to effect the object for which 
it was passed. It became law in December, 1807, and, after 
being made more stringent by several amending and enforcing 
Acts, was finally repealed in March, 1809, it having been found 
only injurious to the nation that enacted it. In a single 
year under its operation the imports of the United States fell 
from $138,500,000 to $50,990,000 and the exports from $108,- 
343,000 to $22,430,000. In lieu of the Embargo Act a Non- 



12 THE WAR OF 1812 

Intercourse Act was passed by which the commerce of the 
United States was opened to all the world except England 
and France. As the latter country had little or no commerce 
with the United States, it was quite evident, that, as before, 
England was the only nation aimed at by this measure. The 
relations between Great Britain and the United States con- 
tinued to grow more strained, and they were not improved 
when, in 1809, the latter government requested the recall of 
Mr. Jackson, the British minister at Washington. The English 
government did not take the trouble to send another minister 
to replace him until 1811. 

In the meantime the government of the United States, 
which had every year been growing more friendly to France, 
was endeavouring to make terms with that country for a 
relaxation of the continental system. As a result of this, 
in August, 1810, the French minister of foreign affairs, in a 
despatch to the American minister at Paris, stated that the 
Berlin and Milan decrees were revoked, and that their opera- 
tion would cease from the first of November following, " It be 
ing understood that in consequence of this declaration, the 
English shall revoke their orders-in-council, and renounce 
the new principles of blockade which they have wished to 
establish, or that the United States, conformably to their 
law, will cause their rights to be respected by the English." 
The meaning of the last clause of this communication might 
be somewhat obscure were it not from our knowledge of the 
fact that Minister Armstrong had been instructed to offer, 
in addition to the repeal of the Embargo Act, a declaration of 
war against Great Britain should that government refuse to 
recall the orders-in-council after the emperor had withdrawn 
his Berlin and Milan decrees. This offer was made in April, 
1808, but Bonaparte did not value an American alliance so 
highly as the men who offered it. His business was war, and 
he did not believe that an American alliance could be of much 
service to him. This is why two years were suffered to elapse 
before any notice was taken of the American minister's offer. 
Although the French response was merely a contingent re- 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR 13 

peal of the decrees, depending on the repeal of the orders-in- 
council, the government of the United States at once treated 
it as absolute, and, while strictly enforcing the Non-Importa- 
tion Act against British ships, permitted French men-of-war 
and merchantmen to enter its harbours freely ; it also re- 
quired the British government to revoke the orders-in-council. 
That government demanded the production of the instru- 
ment by which the Berlin and Milan decrees were revoked, 
but it was not until May 21st, 1812, that such a document 
was produced and then it was found to bear date of April 28th, 
1811, or nearly eight months after the time when it was first 
announced that the decrees were revoked. This instrument 
expressly declared that those French decrees were repealed 
in consequence of the American Congress having by an Act 
of March 1st, 1811, provided that British ships and merchan- 
dise should be excluded from the ports of the United States. 
This was a clear proof that an understanding which was hos- 
tile to British interests existed between that country and 
France. Still when this French document was produced, the 
British government, to quote the language of the manifesto 
issued by the Prince Eegent, "desirous of reverting if possible 
to the ancient and accustomed principles of Maritime War, 
determined on revoking, conditionall}^, the orders-in-council." 
It was not until May 21st, 1812, that the British government 
was furnished by the American minister in London with a copy 
of the document, and, on the twenty-third of June, a declara- 
tion from the Prince Regent in council was published abso- 
lutely revoking all orders so far as they applied to the United 
States. Had the government of that country been animated 
by a sincere desire for peace this action would have brought 
the War of 1812 to a sudden end. 

In May, 1811, an encounter took place on the high seas 
between a British war vessel and an American frigate which 
showed the belligerent disposition which animated the navy 
of the United States. The United States frigate President, 
44 guns, carrying the broad pennant of Commodore Rodgers, 
while cruising off Cape Henry sighted the British corvette 



14 THE WAR OF 1812 

Little Belt, 20 guns, Captain A. B. Bingham, which was cruis- 
ing northwards in search of the frigate Guerricre. The Presi- 
dent discovered the British vessel about noon, and immediately 
. gave chase, but it was dark before the American frigate drew 
alongside. Captain Bingham hailed the President asking, 
''What ship is that?" but the only reply he received was a 
repetition of his own question. The President then fired a 
broadside which the Little Belt immediately returned. An 
action ensued which lasted about forty-five minutes, when 
the big American ship sheered off. At dawn the President 
bore down again and Rodgers sent an officer on board the 
Little Belt with profuse apologies and offers of assistance 
which were declined. As the United States government was 
at that time at peace with the whole world, it is clear that 
Rodgers' attack on the Little Belt was merely the act of a sea 
bully who wished to stand well with his countrymen at a 
cheap rate by attacking a ship of less than one-fourth his 
own strength. The Little Belt bore away for Halifax, while 
Rodgers returned to New York to receive the congratulations 
of his friends. 

When Congress met in November, 1811, its tone was war- 
like. The president, Mr. Madison, sounded the keynote by 
a belligerent message, and the committee on foreign relations 
presented a report which was a comprehensive indictment of 
Great Britain for almost every kind of political crime. A 
tremendous amount of fervid eloquence was employed to fire 
the national heart to the point of going to war, Henry Clay 
and John C. Calhoun being among the loudest and most vio- 
lent in their advocacy of extreme measures. John Randolph 
of Virginia, Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts and all the 
leaders of the Federal party were against a war with England, 
and opposed all proposals to that end, but they were entirely 
outnumbered in Congress, and measures looking towards a 
declaration of war were rapidly passed. Additional regulars 
to the number of twenty-five thousand men were ordered to be 
enlisted, the calling out of one hundred thousand militia was 
authorized, and appropriations were made for large purchases 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR 15 

of arms and ammunition. The president was authorized 
to call upon the governors of the several states, requiring each 
state to furnish its quota of this militia force. Provision was 
also made for the enlistment of a large body of volunteers. 
These bills were passed in January, 1812, and it was expected 
that at least seventy thousand men would be ready to take 
the field in the spring and invade Canada. 

The Federal government was encouraged in its truculent 
course by some of the state legislatures — those of New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio having 
passed resolutions in favour of war with Great Britain. The 
Massachusetts House of Representatives, in its reply to the 
annual message of the governor, denounced Great Britain as 
"a piratical state." Patriotism was a very plentiful com- 
modity in the United States at that time, if the report of the 
committee on foreign relations is to be believed. It stated 
that the patriotic fire of the Revolution still lived in the Am- 
erican breast "with a holy and inextinguishable flame." Tliis 
"holy flame" developed itself mainly in an intense desire to 
possess Canada, and it was stimulated by the thought that a 
favourable time had arrived to strike a deadly blow against 
Great Britain. It was known that Napoleon was preparing 
to invade Russia with an immense army and no one in the 
United States doubted his success. An alliance with so power- 
ful a ruler appeared to these American patriots to be very 
desirable, and they fully believed that Canada was ready to 
rise and throw off its allegiance to the British crown as soon 
as an American army appeared on its frontier. Dr. Eustis, 
the United States secretary of war, in one of his speeches gave 
expression to this sentiment when he said: ''We can take the 
Canadas without soldiers; we have only to send officers into 
the provinces and the people, disaffected towards their own 
government, will rally round our standard." 

The Honourable Henry Clay, who had always been most 
violent in his animosity against Great Britain, said on the 
floors of Congress; "It is absurd to suppose that we will not 
succeed in our enterprise against the enemy's provinces. We 



16 THE WAR OF 1812 

have the Canadas as much under our command as Great 
Britain has the ocean, and the way to conquer her on the 
ocean is to drive her from the land. I am not for stopping 
at Quebec or anywhere else, but I would take the whole con- 
tinent from them, and ask them no favours. Her fleets can- 
not then rendez-vous at Halifax as now; and, having no place 
of resort in the north, cannot infest our coast as they have 
lately done. It is as easy to conquer them on the land as their 
whole navy would conquer ours on the ocean. We must 
take the continent from them. I wish never to see peace till 
we do. God has given us the power and the means; we are 
to blame if we do not use them." 

It was with such aspirations and hopes as these that the 
government and people of the United States entered upon the 
War of 1812. 



CHAPTER II 

WAR DECLARED BY PRESIDENT MADISON 

Although, as has been seen, war had been resolved upon 
by the Congress of the United States as early as the autumn 
of 1811, there was still some formal business to be done before 
it could be actually declared. The cry for war on the part 
of the people seemed to be loud, yet there were many who 
were strongly opposed to such a measure, while others, when 
they found their country on the eve of a contest, felt great 
hesitancy as to the proper course to pursue. Among these 
doubters was no less a personage than President Madison him- 
self, who, notwithstanding his belligerent message to Con- 
gress, had never been in favour of resorting to hostilities if they 
could be avoided. But he was in the hands of men more 
powerful than himself. On March 2nd, 1812, he was waited 
upon by a number of the leading men of the Democratic party 
and plainly told that the only terms upon which he could ob- 
tain re-nomination for the presidency was by consenting to 
a declaration of war against Great Britain. In their opinion 
such a measure was necessary to the success of the party, 
although at this day it does not seem quite clear how the 
Democrats could be defeated because they acquiesced in the 
pacific policy which the Federalists advocated. Madison, 
coerced by the threats of his political friends, yielded against 
the dictates of his better judgment, and thereby brought upon 
his country three years of war which gave not one compensating 
advantage. On the first of April he sent a confidential message 
to Congress recommending the laying of an embargo on all 
shipping for sixty days, as a preliminary to a declaration of 
war against Great Britain. A bill to this effect was, by the 




James Madison 
The President of the United States who declared war against Great Britain. 



WAR DECLARED BY PRESIDENT MADISON 19 

aid of the previous question, carried in the House of Repre- 
sentatives the same evening by a vote of seventy to forty-one. 
Next day it was sent to the Senate which took it up under a 
suspension of the rules and passed it witli an amendment ex- 
tending the time of the embargo to ninety days. This amend- 
ment was concurred in by the House, and the bill became law 
on the fourth of April. The Embargo Act was followed by 
another measure forbidding all importations by land, whether 
of goods or specie. These enactments were followed by vig- 
orous preparations for war both by land and sea, by strength- 
ening the army and navy and making large depots and maga- 
zines for the use of the troops. On the first of June, Mr. 
Madison, yielding once more to the pressure put upon him 
by a committee of Democrats headed by Henry Clay, sent 
another confidential message to Congress recapitulating a 
number of reasons why, in his opinion, war should be declared, 
and leaving the decision of the question in the hands of Con- 
gress. Acting on this the House of Representatives on the 
fourth of June, by a vote of seventy-nine to forty-nine, passed 
a bill declaring war against Great Britain. This bill was 
discussed by the Senate for twelve days and was finally passed 
in that body on the seventeenth of June by a vote of nineteen 
to thirteen. It was then sent back to the House on the 
eighteenth for concurrence in certain amendments; the same 
day it received the signature of the president, and on the 
following day he issued a proclamation declaring war between 
the two countries. 

While the debate on the war measure was going on in the 
Senate, although the deliberations of that body were supposed 
to be secret, enough leaked out to make the public aware of 
what the result was likely to be. In the south and west the 
war was popular, but in the New England states the reverse 
was the case. There the news that war had been declared 
was received with marked tokens of disfavour. The gover- 
nors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut refused 
to comply with the requisitions for militia made upon them 
by the president, taking the ground that such a demand could 



20 THE WAR OF 1812 

only be made in case of an actual invasion. The legislature 
of New Jersey denounced the war as " inexpedient, ill-timed 
and dangerously impolitic." The Maryland House of Dele- 
gates passed resolutions commending the action of the New 
England governors. But such demonstrations only served 
to exasperate the promoters of the war, the would-be-con- 
querors of Canada. The Federal Republic, a newspaper pub- 
lished in Baltimore which ventured to oppose the war, had 
its office sacked by the mob, and its proprietors were in peril 
of their lives. An attempt to re-establish the paper a few 
weeks later resulted in a fearful riot in which General Lingan, 
an aged hero of the Revolution, was killed; and General Henry 
Lee, a very distinguished Revolutionary soldier, was so cruelly 
maimed that he never recovered from his injuries. This act 
of the Baltimore rabble became highly important in a national 
sense, for it deprived the United States of the services of prob- 
ably the only officer of the Revolution who was, in 1812, 
capable of successfully leading an army. It also emphasized 
in a marked degree the partisan and sectional character of 
the war. 

The two Canadian provinces, which were the prizes the 
Americans proposed to secure as the reward of their valour, 
had a frontier of nearly two thousand miles in extent, reaching 
from Lake Superior to the New Brunswick boundary, which 
was liable to be attacked at any point by an invading army 
from the United States. Their population was, in 1812, less 
than four hundred thousand souls, and of this number west- 
ern Canada contained about eighty thousand. The three 
hundred thousand inhabitants of eastern Canada were mostly 
of French origin, descended from the peasantry left in the 
country when it was surrendered to England by the Treaty 
of Paris in 1763. The French were sometimes restive under 
British rule, and it was believed by the United States politi- 
cians that they would welcome an invading army of Ameri- 
cans and become Republicans. The small British minority 
in eastern Canada consisted largely of exiled Loyalists and 
their children from whom even the most sanguine American, 



WAR DECLARED BY PRESIDENT MADISON 21 

if in the possession of his proper senses, could hardly expect 
a very cordial reception. The population of Upper Canada 
was made up of the descendants of exiled Loyalists and dis- 
banded soldiers, together with immigrants from the British 
Isles and the United States. The British immigrants were 
naturally attached to their own flag and their own form of 
government, but not more so than the Loyalists who had 
suffered from American injustice. In both these classes the 
invaders of Canada could only expect to find resolute enemies; 
yet such was the delusion of American politicians, that they 
actually expected both British immigrants and Loyalists to 
rise and renounce their allegiance the moment an American 
force appeared on the frontier. It was a vain hope, and the 
lesson taught the presumptuous invaders was one that has 
not been forgotten even at the present day. The American 
immigrants who came to Upper Canada after the Loyalist 
immigration were not numerous enough to affect the efficient 
defence of the province, even had they been disposed to do 
so; but there is no reason to believe that the majority of 
them were otherwise than hearty in their support of the com- 
mon cause. 

Yet, after making all allowance for the loyalty and fortitude 
of the people of Canada, it is impossil^le not to feel surprised 
at the combination of skill, courage and good fortune which 
enabled the country to make a successful defence against its 
invaders. Against the few hundred thousand inhabitants 
of Canada were arrayed the eight millions of the United States, 
forming a population that had read a great deal of the glories 
of war and desired to experience some of them in their own 
persons. The British Isles then had a population of eighteen 
millions, but they were three thousand miles away, and, with 
one brief interval of peace, had for nineteen years been at war 
with France, spending hundreds of millions of pounds in 
maintaining the conflict, and in subsidizing other nations in 
order to enable their armies to keep the field. In 1812 the 
British lia<l a land force of three hundred thousand men, but 
the area of conflict was so wide that it was impossible to spare 



22 THE WAR OF 1812 

many troops for the defence of Canada, even had a war been 
anticipated. All through the summer of that year, the orders- 
in-council having been revoked, the British government rested 
secure in the belief that there would be no war, and it is mar- 
vellous that during this critical period Canada was not over-run 
and wholly lost to the British crown. The total number of 
regulars in Canada when war was declared was but four thou- 
sand four hundred and fifty, and of these there were only one 
thousand four hundred and fifty in the Upper Province with 
a frontier of thirteen hundred miles to defend against an 
active and enterprising enemy. These consisted of nine 
hundred men of the 41st Regiment; two hundred and fifty 
of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion; two hundred and fifty 
of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and fifty men of the 
Royal Artillery. In Lower Canada were the first battalions 
of the 8th, the 49th, and 100th Regiments, a small detachment 
of artillery and the Canadian and Glengarry Fencibles, the 
two latter being provincial corps. The only reinforcements 
which arrived during the summer of 1812 were the 1st Regi- 
ment or Royal Scots from the West Indies, the 103rd 
Regiment, and a few recruits for the other regiments from 
England, but these reinforcements did not reach Canada in 
time to take part in any of the important operations of that 
year. The defence of the country against a powerful invading 
enemy had therefore to be entrusted to the few regulars that 
were in Canada prior to the declaration of war, and to the 
Canadian militia. 

The preparations for the invasion of Canada were made on 
a very ample scale. Congress had provided for the main- 
tenance of a regular army of thirty-six thousand seven hun- 
dred men, in addition to fifty thousand volunteers, and to 
these were to be added one hundred thousand militia to be 
furnished by the several states. A loan of $11,000,000 was 
authorized, and this it was expected would pay the war ex- 
penses for the first year, but, as nearly $5,000,000 of this 
loan was not subscribed for and the war expenditure was 
more than double what had been anticipated, the difference 



WAR DECLARED BY PRESIDENT MADISON 23 

had to be mado up by an issue of treasury notes, an expedient 
which brought hnancial (Hsaster on the country at a later 
day. Canada was to be invaded at three points, one army 
being directed by way of Plattsburg on Lake Champlain 
against Montreal; a secontl against the Niagara frontier; and 
a third against the extreme end of the western peninsula at 
Detroit. Major-General Dearborn, who harl the general 
direction of military operations on the northern frontier, 
commanded the Plattsburg army in person, and is said to 
have received the most positive instructions to winter at 
Montreal. The Niagara army which was six thousand three 
hundred strong was under the command of Major-General 
Stephen Van Rensselaer of New York. The Detroit army 
was commanded by Brigadier-General Hull, a veteran of the 
Revolutionary War. This last army, which was the first to 
take the field, was not included in the command of General 
Dearborn, but was uuvler the immediate direction of Dr. Eustis, 
the secretary of war, the man who was so confident of taking 
Canada without soldiers. 

It was quite in keeping with the spii'it which had marked 
the conduct of the whole quarrel with England that Congress 
before adjourning should have requested the president to 
recommend a day of humiliation and prayer to be observed 
by the people of the United States for the purpose of publicly 
invoking the blessing of God on their cause. President 
Madison appointed the twentieth of August for this purpose. 
On that day all good citi'/ens of the United States were ex- 
pected to approach the awful presence of the Almighty Ruler 
of the universe with a petition on their lips that He would 
strengthen their armies to enable them to invade and slay 
the peaceful people of Canada; that He would graciously 
a.ssist them to desolate Canadian homes, to make widows of 
the wives, and orphans of the children of Canada, and to 
bring all the manifold horrors of war on a people who had 
never injured them by word or deed. If the Almighty had 
not been merciful as well as just, these impious petitions would 
have withered the lips of those who uttered them, but before 



24 THE WAR OF 1812 

they were made they had been denied, and one American 
army with its general was a prisoner on the soil of Canada. 
Had this fact been known to the New England ministers who 
took advantage of the day to denounce the war and its authors 
from their pulpits, it would have given point to their utter- 
ances and strength to their eloquence. The words of William 
Ellery Channing on that occasion, spoken from his own pulpit 
in Boston when he declared the war to be ''an unjustifiable 
and ruinous war" ... ''a war that is leading us down to pov- 
erty, vice and slavery," were so suitable to the day, and so 
true as to be almost prophetic. A war undertaken under 
false pretences, for the benefit not of the nation but of party, 
and aimed against the peace, liberty and happiness of a friendly 
people could not end otherwise than in disaster. 

The governor-general of Canada when the war broke out 
was Sir George Prevost, an officer of Swiss origin who had 
risen to high rank in the British service, and who, in conse- 
quence of his conciliatory disposition and kindly manners 
had proved an acceptable civil governor. But as a military 
leader, as the sequel showed, he was an utter failure, and 
nearly every disaster which the British suffered during the 
war is to be attributed to his weakness or incompetency. 
Canada needed at that time a bold and active commander- 
in-chief, but Sir George Prevost was neither active nor bold, 
and during the whole period of the war he hung like a dead 
weight on more enterprising officers who commanded the 
armies in Canada. The single claim that Sir George Prevost 
has upon the respect of the Canadians of the present day 
rests on the fact that he succeeded in winning the confidence 
of the French people of Lower Canada. The legislature of that 
province when it met in February, 1812, was not backward 
in adopting his advice to take defensive measures in view of an 
anticipated invasion. A militia bill was passed which author- 
ized the governor to embody two thousand unmarried men 
for three months in^he year, and in case of invasion or im- 
minent danger thereof, to retain them for one year, relieving 
one-half of the number embodied by fresh drafts at the ex- 



WAR DECLARED BY PRESIDEiNT MADISON 



25 



piration of that period. In the event of war the governor 
was authorized to embody the whole mihtia of the province 
should it become necessary. The grants for the support of 
the militia were on a most liberal scale when it is considered 
that the total revenue of the province for the previous year 
had been only £75,000. The sum of £62,000 was granted for 




Sir Gkokge Phevost 

Governor-General of Canada when the United States declared 
war against Great IJritain in June, 1812. 

the purposes of militia and defence, of which £30,000 only 
were to be employed in case of war. The governor-general 
was thus placed in a position to command all the resources 
of Lower Canada in case of an invasion. On the twenty- 
eighth of May, when it was clear that war was imminent, he 
organized four battalions of militia under the authority of the 



26 THE WAR OF 1812 

new Act. A regiment of Canadian voltigeurs (light infantry) 
was raised and placed under the command of Major De 
Salaberry of the 60th Regiment. Arrangements were made, 
with the concurrence of the legislature, for the issue of army 
bills to the amount of £250,000, redeemable with interest at 
the expiration of five years. The sedentary militia were 
drilled, and everything assumed a warlike aspect. 

The president of Upper Canada was Major-General Isaac 
Brock, a man in almost every way a contrast to Sir George 
Prevost. He was active, vigilant and brave and had long 
foreseen the approaching conflict. His first care in the spring 
of 1812 was to strengthen the posts under his command. He 
reinforced Amherstburg on the Detroit frontier with a detach- 
ment of one hundred men of the 41st Regiment. He quietly 
made arrangements for calling out the militia of the province, 
and took such steps as his means permitted for their equip- 
ment. 

While, as has been already seen, the war was promoted 
by the Democrats of the United States for the purpose of 
advancing their party interests at the coming presidential 
election, Dr. Eustis, the secretary of war, had some personal 
views of his own which prompted him to become its advocate. 
This gentleman had served as a regimental surgeon in the 
continental army of the Revolution, and afterwards settled 
in Boston where he became an active politician. After 
serving in Congress for some time he was appointed secretary 
of war by President Madison whose first term commenced in 
1809. From the moment of Eustis's appointment he employed 
his best energies to bringing on a war with Great Britain, 
seeing in such a measure and the conquest of Canada, to which 
he believed it would lead, an easy method of seating himself, 
a successful war secretary, in the presidential chair. The 
glory of having added an enormous area to the territory of 
the United States would, in his opinion, be sufficient to give 
him an assurance of capturing so great a prize as the chief 
magistracy of the republic. But to prevent there being any 
possibility of doubt as to the person entitled to the glory of 




Majok-Gkni;ual Isaac Brock 



President of Upper Canada when the War of 1812 commenced. To his activity, 

vigilance and bravery is due the successful defence made during 

the early months of the war. 



28 THE WAR OF 1812 

conquering Canada, he determined to direct an invasion 
against what he beheved to be its weakest point, the Detroit 
frontier. It was for this reason that he assumed the entire 
control of the army under General Hull, and it illustrates in 
a marked degree the irony of fate that the very precautions 
which he took to isolate this armj^ from the command of Gen- 
eral Dearborn led to its capture and his own political ruin. 
Had the operations in the western peninsula been included 
in the armistice signed by Dearborn on the ninth of August, 
the British flag would not have been flying over Detroit seven 
days later. 

There was, however, a great deal of the wisdom of the ser- 
pent in the manner in which the American war secretary 
proceeded to open the campaign against Canada. In the 
early part of the year Governor Hull of Michigan was called 
to Washington for the purpose of consulting with Eustis as 
to the proposed invasion of Canada by way of Detroit. Hull 
was rather averse to leading such a campaign unless the 
control of Lake Erie could first be secured, but he was over- 
borne by the eloquence and the promises of the war secretary, 
and yielded to his wishes, accepting a commision as 
brigadier-general and the command of the proposed army 
of invasion, which was to be composed of the militia and vol- 
unteers of Ohio and Michigan, together with a regiment of the 
regular army. In pursuance of this arrangement a requisition 
was made upon Governor Meigs of Ohio for twelve hundred 
militia to be drilled and ready to march to Detroit. Ohio 
at that time had a population of three hundred and fifty 
thousand persons, or four times as many as the whole of Upper 
Canada, and their warlike zeal was so great that far more than 
the required number responded to the call of Governor Meigs. 
They assembled at Dayton about the end of April and spent 
nearly a month in preparations for the campaign. These 
included their organization into three regiments and the elec- 
tion of officers. They were presently joined by three com- 
panies of Ohio volunteers, and on the twenty-fifth of May 
Governor Hull made his appearance and took command of 



WAR DECLARED BY PRESIDENT MADl.SUX 



29 



the army. This date is important for it shows that an Ameri- 
can brigadier-general was in connnand of an army intended 
for the invasion of Canada seven days before the president's 
message suggesting a declaration of war was sent to Congress, 
and nearlv four weeks before war was actuallv declared. Nor 



1 


^P 


1 


-.5 


A 


k 7 








Hik 


*-f^ -"^ § 


jH^BB^^ 


^^^^;^^^ 


^B 



General William Hull 
From " Richardson's War of 1812 " by permission of the publishers. 

must it be forgotten that this expedition had been secretly 
prepared, and that no one in Canada could learn, by any 
of the ordinary channels of information, of the attack which 
menaced his country. 



30 THE WAR OF 1812 

The formal transfer of the command of the Ohio mihtia 
and volunteers from Governor Meigs to Governor Hull was 
accompanied bj^ a grand display of eloquence. If the result 
of the war could have been decided by words the fate of 
Canada would have been sealed that day, for there were 
orations by Governor Meigs, General Hull and Colonel Lewis 
Cass, then a young lawyer without military experience who 
had been elected to the command of the 3rd Ohio Regiment. 
There was a vast amount of patriotic enthusiasm on the 
occasion, as all the speakers announced their intention to 
conquer Canada or die in the attempt ; but there was far more 
when a few days later the men of Ohio were joined by the 
4th Regiment of regulars under Lieutenant-Colonel James 
Miller. They were escorted into camp by the three Ohio 
regiments and passed under a triumphal arch of evergreens 
decked with flowers, and inscribed with the words "TIPPE- 
CANOE— GLORY. " General Hull immediately issued a 
complimentary order in which he expressed his belief, " that 
there will be no other contention in this army but who will 
most excel in discipline and bravery." The reader will be 
able to judge by the sequel how far this belief was well founded. 



CHAPTER III 

GENERAL HULL INVADES CANADA 

It was on the twelfth of June that Hull's army was united 
by the junction of the regulars under Colonel Miller, and on 
the following day it commenced its march through the wilder- 
ness towards the Detroit frontier. As Hull advanced he 
built blockhouses along his line of march to serve for depots 
and rallying points for his force in the event of a retreat. At 
Blanchard's Fork, on the Miami River, a stockaded fort 
which was named Fort Findlay, was erected, and here Hull 
received a despatch on the twenty-fourth of June from the 
war department, directing him to hasten to Detroit and await 
further orders. This despatch was dated the nineteenth of 
June, the same day that war was declared, but it made no 
mention of that fact. Hull hastened forward and halted at 
the rapids of the Miami, there reaching navigable water. 
For the purpose of relieving his baggage-animals of a part of 
their burden, he placed his own baggage and that of most of 
his officers, the hospital stores, intrenching tools, the general 
orders of the army and the complete muster rolls of his force, 
on the schooner Cuyahoga to be carried to Detroit. The 
wives of several of his officers, and thirty soldiers were also 
embarked on the schooner. This action, as it turned out, 
had a very important effect on the issue of the campaign. The 
Cuyahoga reached Miami Bay, where Toledo now stands, on 
the evening of the first of July, and on the same day Hull's 
army moved towards Detroit through a fine open country by 
way of Frenchtown on the river Raisin. Here, on the second 
of July, Hull was overtaken by a courier with a despatch from 
the war department informing him that war had been declared 



32 THE WAR OF 1812 

against Great Britain and ordering him to proceed to Detroit 
with all possible expedition. 

It has already been pointed out that war had been declared 
on the nineteenth of June, and that the intention of the Am- 
erican secretary of war was to have Canada invaded and the 
territory opposite Detroit occupied before the news of the 
declaration of war reached Sir George Prevost or Major- 
General Brock. But this intention was defeated by the dif- 
ficulty of the march through the wilderness, and by the vigil- 
ance of the friends of the British government in New York 
city. Sir George Prevost received information of the declara- 
tion of war on the twenty-fourth of June by an express from 
New York to the North- West Fur Company, which left that 
city on the twentieth, the day when intelligence of the declara- 
tion of war reached it. On the twenty-fifth Sir George Pre- 
vost sent a courier with a letter to Brock who was then at 
York, but it did not reach him until the third day of July 
when he was at Fort George on the Niagara frontier. Brock 
had been informed of the war, by an express from New York, 
as early as the twenty-seventh of June. It appears that the 
intelligence of the declaration of war which reached Brock 
was brought by a messenger sent by John Jacob Astor to 
Thomas Clark of Niagara Falls. Thus the private interest of 
an American citizen, who had a large trade in Canada, served 
the purpose of putting the president of Upper Canada on his 
guard against the expected invasion. It is a curious circum- 
stance that this messenger, who was a native of Albany, told 
his countrymen on the way that he was carrying the news of 
the war to Fort Niagara, and he obtained, in consequence, every 
facility from them that money and horses could afford. It is 
equally remarkable that the official intimation of the war, 
from the British minister at Washington, was so much de- 
layed that it did not reach Quebec until some weeks had 
elapsed. It was fortunate for Canada that in this crisis she 
had not to rely on official notices, for at that time every day 
was precious, and the fate of the provinces hung in the balance. 
Colonel St. George, who commanded the British forces at 



GENERAL HULL INVADES CANADA 33 

Maiden on the Detroit River, received notice of the declaration 
of war on the thirtieth of June, two days before it reached 
General Hull; and Captain Roberts, who was in command of the 
British post on the Island of St. Joseph at the head of Lake 
Huron, was notified by letter on the eighth of July. It is 
stated in American histories that the letters to Colonel St. 
George and Captain Roberts were in envelopes franked by 
the American secretary of the treasury, Mr. Gallatin, but 
how this happened remains to this day a mystery. It was 
certainly remarkable that the postal facilities of the enemy 
should thus have been utilized for the purpose of assisting 
Canada to defend itself against an American invasion. 

The promptitude with which the news of the war reached 
the Canadian frontier led to two events which exercised the 
greatest possible influence on the result of the campaign. On 
the morning of the second of July, while the Cuyahoga with 
all Hull's baggage was sailing past Maiden, unconscious of 
danger, she was brought to by a gun from the British fort. 
The British armed-vessel Hunter went alongside of her, and 
the schooner and her cargo became a prize. Thus the most 
complete information in regard to Hull's army, its numbers 
and character, fell into the hands of the British, as well as a 
great variety of stores which were necessary for his operations 
in the campaign against Canada. 

Still more important effects were produced by the early 
conveyance of the news of the war to Captain Roberts who 
commanded the fort at St. Joseph. This fort, which was on 
the Island of St. Joseph in the straits between Lake Huron 
and Lake Superior, had been established by Lord Dorchester 
in 1795. It was intended to serve as a check on the American 
fort Mackinac, which was forty-seven miles distant, on an 
island of the same name lying in the strait between Lake 
Huron and Lake Michigan. On the fifteenth of July Roberts 
received letters by express from General Brock with orders 
to adopt the most prudent measures either for offence or de- 
fence which circumstances might point out. Roberts had 
received information that he was likely to be attacked at St. 



34 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Joseph, and he knew that his post there was quite indefen- 
sible, so he determined to lose no time in becoming the aggres- 
sor by taking the American fort at Mackinac. On the six- 
teenth he embarked with forty-five officers and men of the 
16th Royal Veteran Battalion, one hundred and eighty 
Canadians, three hundred and ninety-three Indians and two 




Mackinac To-day — The Fort 

iron 6-pounders, on his hazardous expedition. This force 
reached Mackinac on the following morning. A summons 
was immediately sent in, and Fort Mackinac with seven 
pieces of cannon and sixty-one officers and men of the United 
States army surrendered without the shedding of a single 
drop of blood. Captain Roberts was so prompt in his move- 
ments, and so judicious in the measures he adopted, that it 
was impossible for the Americans to make any successful 
resistance, for his men were on the heights which commanded 
the fort with a gun in position almost before the enemy had 
received notice of their presence. This capture of the very 
important post of Mackinac was of far more consequence to 
the British cause than would be apparent to the casual reader. 



GENERAL HULL LWADES CANADA 35 

for it fixed the loyalty of the Indians, and showed them which 
side they should take in the coming struggle, and it left 
Detroit open to the attacks of the savages from the northern 
lakes. If Mackinac had been held by the American forces 
in 1812 the result of the campaign on the Detroit frontier 
might have been very different. 

The very small force of regulars in Canada would have been 
still smaller at the commencement of the war had it not been 
for the steps taken by Sir George Prevost on the advice of 
Major-General Brock, early in the year, to increase the number 
of Canadian regiments. In February, 1812, the establish- 
ment of the existing provincial regiment, the Canadian Fenc- 
ibles, was mcreased to eight hundred men, and a project 




Mackinac To-day — From the Fort 

which had been proposed several years before for raising a 
regiment of infantry from the Glengarry settlers was carried 
into, effect. Brock took an active part in promoting this 
work, but due credit should also be given to Sir George Prevost 
for his share in it. His correspondence with the British gov- 
ernment shows that while this project of enlisting a regiment 



36 THE WAR OF 1812 

of four hundred men was at first approved, it was afterwards 
discountenanced, and on March 30th, 1812, Lord Liverpool 
wrote Sir George Prevost ordering him to abandon the work 
of raising the Glengarry Regiment, the British government 
evidently then believing, and continuing to believe during 
most of the summer of 1812, that there would be no war. 
Fortunately for Canada the work of enlisting this regiment 
had advanced so far before Sir George Prevost received Lord 
Liverpool's letter that his orders could not be carried out, and 
on the twenty-sixth of May Sir George was able to report to 
Lord Liverpool that the Glengarry Regiment, completed to 
the number of four hundred men, was stationed at Three 
Rivers. The strength of this regiment was afterwards in- 
creased to six hundred and finally to eight hundred men, and 
it performed very efficient service during the war. It appears 
from a despatch written by Sir George Prevost to Lord Liver- 
pool dated July 15th, 1812, that Glengarry did not supply all 
the men necessary to complete the regiment which bore that 
name, but that all the provinces had to be resorted to for re- 
cruits for it. In the same despatch he states that he had 
limited the numbers of the Canadian voltigeurs to three hun- 
dred, owing to the low state of the military chest. 

Major-General Brock was at York, the capital of the pro- 
vince, when news was received of the declaration of war. At 
that time he had just been offered a company of farmers' sons 
with their trained horses for the equipment of a car brigade to 
be commanded by Captain Holcroft of the Royal Artillery. 
This offer was immediately accepted, and the flank companies 
of the militia of the Upper Province were called out, which 
made an addition of eight hundred men to his available force. 
Brock then hastened to Fort George on the Niagara frontier, 
and there established his military headquarters. He sum- 
moned the Indians of the Grand River to come to his assist- 
ance, and about one hundred of them responded. These 
prompt measures showed that the cause of Great Britain 
and of Canada was not likely to suffer from any lack of zeal 
or energy on the part of the president of Upper Canada. 



38 THE WAR OF 1812 

The car brigade was complete by the third of July. The 
Americans had gathered a considerable force on the east side 
of the Niagara River, but the Niagara frontier was lined with 
British troops and militia, and other preparations had been 
made to give the enemy a warm reception. 

In the meantime Hull was advancing towards the Detroit 
frontier. Detroit at that time was a town of some one hun- 
dred and sixty houses, with a population of about eight 
hundred, the inhabitants being chiefly of French descent. On 
.the hill in the rear of the village, about two hundred and fifty 
yards from the river, stood Fort Detroit. It was quadrangular 
in form with bastions on each corner, and covered about two 
acres of ground. Its embankments were nearly twenty feet 
in height, with a deep dry ditch, and it was surrounded by 
a double row of pickets. This fort before Hull's arrival was 
garrisoned by ninety-four officers and men of the United 
States army. Its position was one of considerable strength, 
but it was so placed that it did not command the river, and 
could not damage the armed vessels which the British had, at 
that time, in those waters. The town itself was surrounded 
by strong pickets fourteen feet high with loop-holes to shoot 
through. 

The St. Clair River flows from Lake St. Clair, a few miles 
to the east of Detroit, to Lake Erie, its course being almost 
north and south. Near the junction of the river with Lake 
Erie on the United States side, is Brownstown; immediately 
opposite Brownstown were Amherstburg and Fort Maiden; 
while on the Canadian side of the river nearly opposite Detroit 
was the village of Sandwich. 

Hull's army reached Brownstown on the fourth of July, 
and spent that day in constructing a bridge across the Huron 
River. They marched early the next morning and that 
evening encamped at Springwells, at the lower end of the 
Detroit settlement, opposite Sandwich, where a small British 
force was stationed, and where fortifications were being 
erected. Fort Detroit and its surroundings were immedi- 
ately occupied by Hull's army. These enthusiastic warriors 




Operations on the Detroit Frontier 



40 THE WAR OF 1812 

amused themselves by cannonading the village of Sandwich, 
frightening the inhabitants out of their houses, and doing 
some slight damage. Hull had fully two thousand five hun- 
dred men with him when he reached Detroit. 

The British forces on the Canadian side of the river con- 
sisted of one hundred men of the 41st Regiment, a few artillery, 
three hundred Canadian militia and about one hundred and 
fifty Indians, the whole under the command of Colonel St, 
George. The only fortification at that time was Fort Maiden, 
which was a small work of four bastions flanking a dry ditch, 
with an interior defence of pickets with loop-holes for mus- 
ketry. All the buildings in this fort were of wood roofed 
with shingles, and could easily have been destroyed by a few 
shells. • As a defensive work against a civilized enemy with 
artillery. Fort Maiden could be of no use whatever. A few 
of the British were stationed at Sandwich, and there Colonel 
St. George had commenced the erection of a two-gun battery, 
but it had not been completed when the Americans arrived 
at Detroit. Hull's army was so determined on the immediate 
invasion of Canada that his delay in taking this step made 
his soldiers almost mutinous. During his march through the 
wilderness he discovered that amateur soldiers, hastily levied 
and commanded by officers whom they had themselves elected, 
were not to be controlled with as much ease as disciplined 
veterans, because they had not been taught the first duty of 
a soldier, obedience. Hull delayed his invasion until he had 
received orders from Washington to advance; these orders 
having arrived on the evening of the seventh of July, he de- 
termined to invade Canada at once. The number of British 
troops at Sandwich was so small that there was no difficulty 
in crossing over, but Hull thought it necessary to resort to 
strategy, and sent his boats down the river on the evening of 
the eleventh to Springwells for the purpose of inducing the 
British to believe that an attack on Maiden was contemplated. 
During the night the boats returned and the crossing was 
effected at a point about a mile and a half to the east of Detroit 
and some three miles from Sandwich. The few British that 



42 THE WAR OF 1812 

were at Sandwich retired down the river to the main body, 
so that no resistance whatever was offered. General Hull 
now issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Canada which 
was intended to intimidate them and prevent them from de- 
fending their country against their enemies. This paper is 
said to have been written by Colonel Lewis Cass, one of Hull's 
officers, who afterwards became a public man of some note, 
and was as follows : — 

"Inhabitants of Canada: 

"After thirty years of peace and prosperity the United 
States have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggres- 
sions, the insults and indignities of Great Britain have once 
more left them no alternative but manly resistance, or un- 
conditional submission. 

"The army under my command has invaded your country, 
and the standard of UNION now waves over the territory 
of Canada. To the peaceable, unoffending inhabitant, it 
brings neither danger nor difficulty. I come to firid enemies, 
not to make them, I come to protect, not to injure you. 

"Separated by an immense ocean, and an extensive wil- 
derness from Great Britain, you have no participation in her 
councils, nor interest in her conduct. You have felt her 
tyranny, you have seen her injustice, but I do not ask you to 
avenge the one or redress the other. The United States are 
sufficiently powerful to afford you every security consistent 
with their rights, and your expectations. I tender you the 
invaluable blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, 
and their necessary result, individual and general prosperity 
— that liberty which gave decision to our councils and energy 
to our conduct in our struggle for independence, and which 
conducted us safely and triumphantly through the stormy 
period of the Revolution. That liberty which has raised us to 
an elevated rank among the nations of the world, and which has 
afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth 
and improvement, than ever fell to the lot of any people. 

"In the name of my country and by the authority of my 
government, I promise protection to your persons, property and 
rights. Remain at your homes — pursue your peaceful and 
customary avocations — raise not your hands against your 



GENERAL HULL LWADES CANADA 43 

brethren — many of your fatliers fought for the freedom and 
independence we now enjoy. Being children, therefore, of 
the same family with us, and heirs to the same heritage, the 
arrival of an army of friends must be hailed by you with a 
cordial welcome. You will be emancipated from tyranny and 
oppression, and restored to tlu; dignified station of freemen. 

"Had I any doubt of eventual success, I might ask your 
assistance but I have not. I come prepared for every con- 
tingency. I have a force which will look down all opposition, 
and that force is but the vanguard of a much greater. If 
contrary to your own interests, and the just expectation of 
my country ,_ you should take part in the approaching contest, 
you will be consideivd and treated as enemies, the horrors 
and calamities of war will stalk before you. 

"If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain be 
pursued, and the savages are let loose to murder our citizens, 
and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war 
of extermination. 

"The first stroke of the tomahawk, the first attempt with 
the scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate 
scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by the 
side of an Indian will be taken prisoner — instant destruction 
will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice and 
humanity, cannot prevent the employment of a force which 
respects no rights, and knows no wrong, it will be prevented 
by a severe and relentless system of retaliation. 

"I doubt not 3^our courage and firmness; I will not doubt 
your attachment to liberty. If you tender your services 
voluntarily, they will be accepted readily. 

"The United States offers you peace, liberty, and security. 
Your choice lies between these and war, slavery and des- 
truction. Choose then, but choose wisely; and may He who 
knows the justice of the cause, and who holds in His hands 
the fate of nations, guide you to a result the most compatible 
with your rights and interests, your peace and prosperity. 

"W. HULL. 
"By the General, A. F. HULL, 

"Captain 13th Regiment, U. S. Infantry and Aide-de- 
Camp. 
"Head-quarters, Sandwich, July 12th, 1812." 



44 THE WAR OF 1812 

Major-General Brock was at Fort George on the Niagara 
frontier, when, on the twentieth of July, he received infor- 
mation of Hull's invasion and a copy of his proclamation. He 
instantly issued a counter proclamation which is a marvel of 
manly eloquence and which produced a powerful effect on the 
minds of all who read it. 

PROCLAMATION 

"The unprovoked declaration of war, by the United States 
of America, against the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland and its dependencies, has been followed by the 
actual invasion of this province in a remote frontier of the 
western district, by a detachment of the armed forces of the 
United States. The officer commanding that detachment 
has thought proper to invite His Majesty's subjects not mere- 
ly to a quiet and unresisting submission, but insults them 
with a call to seek voluntarily the protection of his govern- 
ment. Without condescending to repeat the illiberal epi- 
thets bestowed in this appeal of the American commander 
to the people of Upper Canada on the administration of His 
Majesty, every inhabitant of the province is desired to seek 
the confutation of such indecent slander, in the review of his 
own particular circumstances. Where is the Canadian sub- 
ject who can truly affirm to himself that he has been injured 
by the government in his person, his iberty or his property? 
Where is to be found in any part of the world, a growth so 
rapid in wealth and prosperity, as this colony exliibits? 
Settled not thirty years by a band of veterans, exiled from 
their former possessions on account of their loyalty, not a 
descendant of these brave people is to be found who, under 
the fostering liberality of their sovereign, has not acquired a 
property and means of enjoyment superior to what were 
possessed by their ancestors. This unequalled prosperity 
could not have been attained by the utmost liberality of the 
government, or the persevering industry of the people, had 
not the maritime power of the mother country secured to its 
colonies a safe access to every market where the produce of 
their labour was in demand. 

''The unavoidable and immediate consequence of a sep- 
aration from Great Britain must be the loss of this inestimable 



GENERAL HULL INVADES CANADA 45 

advantage; and what is offered 3'OU in exchange? To become 
territory of the United States and share with them that ex- 
clusion from the ocean which the poHcy of their present 
government enforces — you are not even flattered with a {par- 
ticipation of their boasted independence, and it is but too 
obvious that once exchanged from the powerful protection 
of the United Kingdom, you must be re-annexed to the 
dominion of France, from which the province of Canada was 
wrested by the arms of Great Britain, at a vast expense of 
blood and treasure, from no other motive but to relieve her 
ungrateful people from a cruel neighbour. This restitution 
of Canada to the empire of France was the stipulated reward 
for the aid afforded to the revolted colonies, now the Ignited 
States; the debt is still due, and there can be no doubt but 
the pledge has been renewed as a consideration for conmiercial 
advantages, or rather for an expected relaxation in the 
tyranny of France over the commercial world. — Are you 
prepared, inhabitants of Upper Canada, to become willing 
subjects, or rather slaves, to the despot who rules the nations 
of Europe with a rod of iron? — If not, arise in a body, and 
exert your energies, cooperate cordially with the King's regu- 
lar forces to repel the invader, and do not give cause to your 
children, when groaning under the oppression of a foreign 
master, to reproach you with having too easily parted with 
the richest inheritance of this earth, — a participation in the 
name, character and freedom of Britons. 

"The same spirit of justice, which will make every reason- 
able allowance for the unsuccessful efforts of zeal and loyalty, 
will not fail to punish the defalcation of principle: every 
Canadian freeholder is, by deliberate choice, bound by the 
most solemn oaths to defend the monarchy as well as his own 
property; to shrink from that engagement is a treason not 
to be forgiven : let no man suppose that if in this unexpected 
struggle. His Majesty's arms should be compelled to jdeld to 
an overwhelming force, that the province will be eventually 
abandoned; the endeared relation of its first settlers, the 
intrinsic value of its commerce, and the pretensions of its 
powerful rival to repossess the Canadas, are pledges that no 
peace will be established between the United States and Great 
Britain and Ireland, of which the restoration of these pro- 
vinces does not make the most prominent condition. 



46 THE WAR OF 1812 

''Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of the com- 
mander of the enemy's forces to refuse quarter should an 
Indian appear in the ranks. The brave bands of natives 
which inhabit this colony were, like His Majesty's subjects, 
punished for their zeal and fidelity by the loss of their pos- 
sessions in the late colonies, and rewarded by His Majesty 
with lands of superior quality in this province; the faith of the 
British government has never yet been violated, they feel 
that the soil they inherit is to them and their posterity pro- 
tected from the base arts so frequently devised to overreach 
their simplicity. 

'^ By what new principle are they to be prevented from de- 
fending their property? If their warfare, from being different 
from that of the white people, is more terrific to the enemy, 
let him retrace his steps — they seek him not — and cannot 
expect to find women and children in an invading army; but 
they are men, and have equal rights with all other men to 
defend themselves and their property when invaded, more 
especially when they find in the enemy's camp a ferocious and 
mortal foe using the same warfare which the American com- 
mander affects to reprobate. 

"This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing 
quarter for such a cause as being found in arms with a brother 
sufferer in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with 
the certain assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited 
operations of war in this part of the King's dominions but 
in every quarter of the globe, for the national character of 
Britain is not less distinguished for humanity than strict 
retribiitive justice, which will consider the execution of this 
inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for which every subject 
of the offending power must make expiation. 

''ISAAC BROCK, 
" Major-General and President. 
"Head-quarters, Fort George, July 22nd, 1812. 
" By order of His Honour the President, 

"J. B. Glegg, Capt. A.D.C. 
"GOD SAVE THE KING." 

General Brock sent Colonel Procter of the 41st Regiment 
to assume command of Amherstburg with such reinforce- 



GENERAL HULL INVADES CANADA 47 

ments as he could spare, and then proceeded to York to meet 
the legislature of Upper Canada which assembled in special 
session on the twenty-seventh of July. His opening speech 
to that body was well calculated to awaken in the hearts of its 
members those patriotic feelings which are seldom absent 
from the breasts of Canadians. He said: — 

"When invaded by an enemy whose avowed object is the 
entire conquest of the province, the voice of loyalty, as well 
as of interest, calls aloud to every person in the sphere in 
which he is placed to defend his country. Our militia have 
heard the voice and have obeyed it. They have evinced by 
the promptitude and loyalty of their conduct that they are 
worthy of the King whom they serve, and of the constitution 
which they enjoy; and it affords me particular satisfaction 
that, while I address you as legislators, I speak to men who, 
in the day of danger, will be ready to assist not only with 
their counsel, but with their arms. 

"We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest. By 
unanimity and despatch in our Councils, and by vigour in 
our operations, we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a 
country defended by free men, enthusiastically devoted to 
the cause of their King and constitution, cannot be conquered." 

The House of Assembly thus addressed contained some 
members who were not in harmony with the general feeling 
of loyalty which prevailed throughout the province, and who 
endeavoured to obstruct the progress of urgent business by 
dilatory methods. After a session which lasted only nine 
days, and during which two Acts were passed providing for 
the defence of the province, the legislature was prorogued and 
Brock left free to look after the military operations which de- 
manded his personal attention. The closing Act of the legis- 
lature was to issue a royal address to the inhabitants of Upper 
Canada, the tone of which leaves nothing to be desired. The 
concluding paragraphs of this spirited document are as fol- 
lows : — 

"Already have we the joy to remark that the spirit of 
loyalty has burst forth in all its ancient splendour. The 



48 THE WAR OF 1812 

militia in all parts of this province have volunteered their 
services with acclamation, and displayed a degree of energy 
worthy of the British name. When men are called upon to 
defend everything they call precious — their wives and child- 
ren, their friends and possessions — they ought to be inspired 
with the noblest resolutions, and they will not easily be 
frightened by menaces or conquered by force; and beholding, 
as we do, the flame of patriotism burning from one end of 
the Canadas to another, we cannot but entertain the most 
pleasing anticipations. 

" Our enemies have indeed said that they could subdue this 
country by proclamation; but it is our part to prove to them 
that they are sadly mistaken, that the population is deter- 
minedly hostile to them, and that the few who might be 
otherwise inclined will find it their safety to be faithful. 

"Innumerable attempts will be made by falsehood to 
detach you from your allegiance, for our enemies, in imitation 
of their European master, trust more to treachery than to 
force; and they will, no doubt make use of many of those lies 
which, unfortunately for the virtuous part of these states and 
the peace and happiness of the world, had too much success 
during the American rebellion. They will tell you that they 
are come to give you freedom. Yes, the base slaves of the 
most contemptible faction that ever distracted the affairs of 
any nation, the minions of the very sycophants who lick the 
dust from the feet of Bonaparte, will tell you that they are 
come to communicate the blessing of liberty to this province ; 
but you have only to look to your own situation to put such 
hypocrites to confusion. 

"Trusting more to treachery than to open hostility, our 
enemies have already spread their emissaries through the 
country to seduce our fellow-subjects from their allegiance by 
promises as false as the principles on which they are founded. 
A law has been enacted for the speedy detection of such 
emissaries, and for their condign punishment on conviction. 

"Remember that, when you go forth to the combat, you 
fight not for yourselves alone, but for the whole world. You 
are defeating the most formidable conspiracy against the 
civilization of man that was ever contrived, a conspiracy 
threatening greater barbarism and misery than followed the 



GENERAL HULL INVADES CANADA 49 

downfall of the Roman oiiipiro; that now you have an oj)por- 
tunity of proving your attachment to the parent state, which 
contends for the reUef of oppressed nations, the last pillar of 
true liberty and the last refuge of oppressed humanity, 

" ALLAN MACLEAN, 
"Speaker, Commons House of Assembly. 
"August 5th, 1812." 



CHAPTER IV 



SURRENDER OF HULL S ARMY 



General Hull having established himself on the soil of 
Canada at Sandwich, his army expected that he would make 
an immediate advance on Maiden and clear the frontier of 
British troops. Fort Maiden was indeed very weak and quite 
untenable if attacked with vigour by any considerable force, 
but, as the British had command of the river opposite, it 
could only be attacked by land by way of Sandwich. At 
the river Aux Canards, four miles above Maiden, Colonel St. 
George established an outpost, and parties of Indians were 
thrown out in advance of it and scouted the banks of the 
Detroit River as far as Turkey Creek. On the fifteenth 
of July Colonel Cass made his appearance in the vicinity 
of the river Aux Canards with two hundred and eighty 
men. The bridge over this stream was defended by a 
company of the 41st Regiment, sixty militia and a party of 
Indians. The Indians were sent forward about a mile to 
entice the Americans to the bridge, but Cass and the bulk 
of his men had gone farther up the stream in order to find a 
place to cross and outflank the British, leaving a portion of 
the detachment in ambush in the woods. This concealed 
body of riflemen fired on the Indians killing one and wounding 
two others. The dead Indian was scalped by these soldiers 
of a general who had objected to the use of the scalping knife 
in a proclamation only three days old. The individual who 
thus imitated the Indian, whose warfare, to use the words of 
President Madison's message to Congress, is "distinguished 
by features peculiarly shocking to humanity," was a certain 
Captain William McCuUough, who is described by an Ameri- 



SURRENDER OF HULL'S ARMY 51 

can historian as ''one of the bravest and most devoted of 
his country's defenders." Captain McCullough, just three 
weeks later, was unfortunate enough to lose his own scalp 
in an encounter with the Indians at Brownstown. In his 
pocket was found a letter addressed to his wife in which his 
achievement was related, and in which he boasted that he 
tore the scalp from the head of the savage with his teeth. 
This trivial matter would be unworthy of mention but for 
the proof which it affords that savage deeds were by no means 
confined to the Indians. With what show of reason could 
a nation object to Indian methods of warfare when its soldiers 
not only adopted those methods themselves, but boasted of 
the fact, and carried home with them in triumph the bloody 
trophies torn from the heads of savages whose worst deeds 
they imitated ? 

Colonel Duncan McArthur of the 1st Ohio Regiment had 
been despatched up the Thames by General Hull to collect 
supplies, the day after Canada was invaded. He advanced 
as far as Moravian Town and commenced that career of plunder 
and rapine which gave him so evil a reputation during the war. 
The stores and dwellings of the inhabitants were robbed by 
these marauders, and about two hundred barrels of flour 
brought away in boats in addition to a vast quantity of other 
spoil. Mc Arthur returned from his foray on the seventeenth, 
and on the two following days was engaged in skirmishing 
with the Indians near the Aux Canards. He had then three 
or four hundred men with him, and a couple of 6-pounders, 
but his advance against the bridge was checked by two pieces 
of artillery which the British had upon it, and he was forced 
to retreat. The invaders marched back to camp in very bad 
humour with themselves and their generals. Two privates 
of the 41st Regiment, who formed a small look-out party, 
were wounded and taken prisoners, but whether the Ameri- 
cans suffered any loss has not been ascertained. 

iVIcArthur, during the temporary absence of General Hull 
at Detroit, was left in command of the invading army and 
made up his mind to take Maiden on his own account and 



52 THE WAR OF 1812 

thereby win immortal renown. To effect this, however, it 
was necessary to pass the obstinate defenders of the Aux 
Canards bridge, and, as a direct attack seemed certain to 
fail, he resolved to go round it. A party of scouts under 
Captain McCullough was sent to look for a practicable passage 
for artillery above the bridge, but returned unsuccessful, and 
brought a report of a band of Indians having been seen be- 
tween the Aux Canards and Turkey Creek. Major Denny 
with one hundred and twenty militia of the 1st Ohio Regiment 
was sent out to drive them away on the morning of the 
twenty-fifth, but failed most lamentably in his enterprise. 
His detachment fell into an ambuscade formed by twenty- 
two Indians and fled in great confusion with a loss of six 
killed and two wounded. The militia threw away their arms, 
accoutrements and haversacks, and were pursued for about 
three miles, until they met with reinforcements. They then 
returned to camp thinking that war was not quite so much 
of a holiday amusement as they had imagined. The army 
had been a fortnight in Canada and all they had to show for 
it was one Indian scalp. 

Immediately after the tidings of the invasion of Canada 
reached General Brock, that vigilant and active leader sent 
Captain Chambers of the 41st Regiment with a small detach- 
ment to the Thames for the purpose of gathering the militia 
and Indians in that district and advancing down the river 
towards Detroit. This officer experienced difficulties which 
delayed his advance and rendered it necessary for the general 
to send Colonel Procter to take command on the Detroit 
frontier. He arrived at Maiden a few days after Major 
Denny's repulse, and, during the first week in August, was 
reinforced by sixty men of the 41st Regiment. The new 
commander soon made his presence known to the Americans 
in a very unpleasant manner. As the British had the com- 
mand of Lake Erie and the river opposite Amherstburg, the 
only line of communication the Americans had with Ohio was 
by a road which passed along the west bank of the Detroit 
River through Brownstown to the river Raisin. This line 



SURRENDER OF HULL'S ARMY 



53 



of communication Procter immediately cut with the aid of 
his Indians, leaving the American army at Sandwich in a 
state of complete isolation with the certainty of being com- 
pelled to surrender if its communications could not be re- 
stored. At this time General Hull received information that 
Captain Henry Brush, with two hundred and thirty Ohio 
volunteers, one hundred beef cattle and other supplies for 
the army and a mail, was at the river Raisin waiting for an 
escort to enable him to reach Detroit. A detachment of two 




Bi.oi KiioLsio BUILT IN 15312 oprosiTE Amheustburg, OX Bois Blanc Island 

hundred men was accordingly sent under Major Van Home to 
escort Brush to the camp; they also had with them a mail 
which was destined for Ohio, and took tlioir departure from 
Detroit in high spirits on the fourth of August. On the fol- 
lowing day this body of troops, while approaching Browns- 
town, fell into an ambush of seventy Indians under Tecumseh 
and was compelled to retreat in great disorder, being pursued 
for several miles by the Indians. The mail was lost and 
seventeen of the Americans, including seven officers, were 



54 THE WAR OF 1812 

killed and eight wounded, all of whom were left behind. It 
was on this occasion that the redoubtable Captain McCullough 
lost his scalp. The whole glory of this affair belongs to the 
Indians, who alone were engaged, and who had only one man 
killed. A perusal of the contents of the mail revealed the 
demoralized and mutinous condition of the American army, 
and hastened the catastrophe which was approaching. 

The defeat at Brownstown brought to a sudden end those 
dreams of a speedy triumph in which the American general 
had been indulging. The question was not whether his army 
would occupy Maiden but whether it could maintain itself 
at Sandwich. General Hull concluded that it could not, and 
on the evening of the seventh of August the order was given 
for the army to recross the river to Detroit. This order was 
executed in the course of the night and the following morning. 
The only American troops left on the soil of Canada were two 
hundred men under Major Denny who occupied a house be- 
longing to one Gowris, which had been stockaded, together 
with some adjoining buildings. This post was called Fort 
Gowris but its occupation was simply a sham for the purpose 
of deceiving the soldiers and inducing them to believe that 
they still had a foothold in Canada, for Hull well knew that 
it could not be held. Thus had this formidable American 
army of invasion been driven from the soil of Canada without 
a single British soldier or Canadian militiaman being slain, 
or the exercise of any greater amount of pressure on the enemy 
than was involved in the placing of a few Indians across the 
line of General Hull's communications with Ohio. The forced 
evacuation of Canada was a terrible humiliation, not only 
to the army, but to the whole American people. The general 
who had "come prepared for every contingency," and the 
force which was to ''look down all opposition," had been 
compelled to retire in a very disgraceful fashion. The few 
French-Canadians who, awed by the dreadful threats or se- 
duced by the mighty promises of Hull, had placed themselves 
under his protection, now found themselves abandoned and 
left to the vengeance of the authorities whom they had 



SURRENDER OF HULL'S ARMY 55 

deserted. The loyal men who had taken the field at their 
country's call saw in Hull's retreat the best proof that their 
patriotic conduct had been wise as well as honourable. 
The conduct of Hull's army, while encamped in Canada, 
had been such that no credence could afterwards be given 
to the promises of any other general of the same nation. The 
Canadians who trusted Hull, instead of being protected in 
their " persons, property and rights," as he, in the name of 
his country and by the authority of his government, had 
solemnly promised they would be, had been systematically 
plundered and insulted by the mutinous host which he com- 
manded. This poor old man, who after all was very much 
to be pitied, could in fact hardly protect himself from the 
Ohio rabble which called itself an army, but which had neither 
skill nor discipline nor any other single quality that an 
army should possess. 

As the necessity for re-opening his con uminicat ions with 
Ohio and escorting Brush to Detroit had become urgent, 
Colonel James Miller of the 4th U. S. infantry was sent out 
on the eighth of August with a strong detachment to effect 
that object. This force, which numbered six hundred men, 
embraced Miller's own regiment of regulars, part of the 1st 
U. S. Regiment, a few volunteers and a body of cavalry and 
artillery with two guns. Before j\Iiller set out he harangued 
his troops and informed them that they were going to meet 
the enemy and to beat them. For the purpose of stimulating 
their courage he added: "You shall not disgrace yourselves 
nor me. Every man who shall leave the ranks or fall back 
without orders will be instantly put to death. I charge the 
officers to execute this order." On the afternoon of the fol- 
lowing day Miller's force was approaching Maguaga, fourteen 
miles below Detroit, when the British were encountered. The 
detachment, which thus undertook to bar the way of the 
Americans, was under Captain Muir of the 41st Regiment, 
and consisted of seventy-five men of that regiment, sixty 
militia, one hundred and twenty-five Indians under Tecumseh 
and seventy Lake Indians under Caldwell. The Lake Indians, 



56 



THE WAR OF 1812 



who were to the right of the British, fled after a few volleys 
had been exchanged, so that the latter to avoid being out- 
flanked by an overwhelming force were obliged to retire about 
half a mile and take a fresh position. The Indians under Te- 
cumseh maintained an obstinate conflict with Miller's troops 
and suffered considerable loss. The Americans did not 
attempt to approach the British in their new position, and 
Miller, thinking himself too weak to break through their line, 




Tecumseh 

Who commanded the Indians with Brock on the occasion of the 
capture of Detroit in 1812. 

sent back to Detroit for reinforcements. He was joined next 
day by Colonel Mc Arthur with one hundred men who had 
come down in boats in which the wounded, who were numerous, 
were to be taken back. These boats on their return were cap- 
tured by the boats of the Queen Charlotte and the Hunter under 
Lieutenant Rolette, the same energetic oflScer who took the 



SUKPvKXDKK OF HULL'S ARMY 57 

schooner containing:; 1 hill's l)a<i;<!;:if!;o. No forward movement 
was made by the Americans that day, and in the afternoon they 
started to march back to Detroit, a weary and dispirited body 
of men, thoroughly disgusted with themselves, their general, 
and the campaign. Even Miller's threats of the bayonet had 
failed to drive the heroes of Tippecanoe against their enemies. 

The Amei-ican loss in the so-called battle of Maguaga 
was eighteen killed and fifty-seven wounded, if their own 
official accounts are to be relied on. The British lost three 
killed and twelve wounded, one of them, Lieutenant Suther- 
land of the 41st, mortally. Captain Muir was also wounded. 
The affair was a most humiliating repulse for the Americans, 
for nearly all the regulars they had on the frontier were engaged 
in it, and if they, with their cavalry and artillery, could not 
drive away a few British, Canadians, and Indians what could 
be expected of the militia alone ? After this severe shock to 
national pride, the pretence of occupying any part of Canadian 
territory seemed to be quite unnecessary, therefore Fort 
Gowris at Sandwich was evacuated by Major Denny on the 
eleventh of August, and he and his men crossed over to 
Detroit. It was quite in keeping with the vandal-like char- 
acter of the invasion that, before leaving the soil of Canada, 
Denny should have ordered the destruction of the house of 
Gowris which had given him shelter, and thereby prove that 
it was not necessary to go to an Indian cam]) to find men who 
disregarded the rules of civilized warfare. 

While these events were occurring on the Detroit frontier. 
General Brock, now relieved of his legislative duties, was 
hastening forward reinforcements. The si)irit in which he 
had been met by the people of Canada filled him with pride 
and hope, and his own exertions were commensurate with the 
difficulties he had to face. The militia of the province, imita- 
ting the example of those of the county of York, had volun- 
teered to a man to serve in any part of western Canada. John 
Macdonell, the attorney-general, with a zeal worthy of all 
honour, took service on the general's staiT as provincial aide- 
de-camp, and his conduct was but a t3'pe of that of the influ- 



58 THE WAR OF 1812 

ential men of the province generally. To equip the militia 
for the field without money, supplies of food, clothing, shoes, 
or even arms, would have been absolutely impossible but for 
the spirit displayed by these gentlemen who stood by Brock 
in that trying hour. One company of private individuals, 
''The Niagara and Queenston Association," supplied him 
with several thousands of pounds sterling in bank notes, and 
with this he was placed in a position to equip his militia forces. 
Boats were gathered at Long Point on Lake Erie sufficient 
for the conveyance of three hundred men, and there with 
forty men of the 41st Regiment, and two hundred and sixty 
militia of the county of Norfolk, he embarked on the eighth 
of August. On the thirteenth he reached Amherstburg, after 
a rough passage, without an accident. Although it was nearly 
midnight when he arrived, he had an interview the same even- 
ing with Tecumseh, who was brought over from his encamp- 
ment on Bois Blanc Island to meet him, and arrangements 
were made then for a council to be held the following day. 
This was attended by nearly one thousand Indians and was 
so satisfactory in every way that General Brock resolved 
upon such operations as would compel the enemy to fight in 
the open field or surrender. 

The same day that Major Denny evacuated Sandwich the 
ground he left was occupied by a British detachment, and the 
erection of batteries was commenced under the direction of 
Captain Dixon of the Royal Engineers. The work was pro- 
secuted with such diligence that on the fifteenth five guns 
were in position, all of which commanded the fort at Detroit. 
At noon that day Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell and Captain 
Glegg were sent by General Brock to Hull under a flag of 
truce to demand the immediate surrender of Detroit. Hull 
returned a bold answer stating that he was ready to meet any 
force the British might send against him, and refusing to 
comply with the demand. The same afternoon the British 
guns, which comprised one 18-pounder, two 12-pounders and 
two 5|-inch mortars, opened on Detroit with shot and shell 
and were replied to by seven 24-pounders from the other side 




Officer of Light Infantky Company, 41st Rkgiment 
With Brock at the Capture of Detroit. 



60 THE WAR OF 1812 

of the river which, however, failetl to do the British batteries 
the sHghtest injury, although the cannonade continued for 
several hours. During the liight Tecumseh with Colonel 
Elliott, Captain McKee and six hundred Indians landed on 
the American shore two miles below Springwells and five 
from Detroit. There they remained in concealment until 
the following morning when General Brock and his white 
troops crossed over at Springwells. 

The landing of the British was effected a little after daylight, 
the Americans offering no opposition whatever. As soon as 
they began to cross the river, the Indians moved forward and 
took up a position in the woods, about a mile and a half dis- 
tant, on the British left. Brock's force consisted of thirty 
men of the Royal Artillery, two hundred and fifty of the 41st 
Regiment, fifty of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and 
four hundred Canadian militia, making with the Indians a 
grand total of one thousand three hundred and thirty. He 
had with him three 6-pounders and two 3-pounders, under 
the command of Lieutenant Troughton. General Brock's 
idea in crossing at that time was to advance towards the fort, 
take up a strong position, and, by his menacing attitude, com- 
pel the Americans to meet his force in the field. But on land- 
ing he was informed that Colonel McArthur had left the gar- 
rison two days before, and that his cavalry had been seen that 
morning three miles distant in the rear of the British. This 
decided Brock to make an immediate attack on the fort. The 
cause of McArthur's absence was the old trouble with regard 
to Brush who still halted at the river Raisin. On the evening 
of the fourteenth Colonels McArthur and Cass had set out 
with three hundred and fifty men for the Raisin, taking a cir- 
cuitous route towards the head-waters of the Huron in order 
to avoid the Indians. The next afternoon, while entangled 
in a swamp and unable to proceed farther, they were sum- 
moned back to 'Detroit by a courier from General Hull, and 
were wearily making their way through the woods when seen 
by Brock's scouts. 

Brock now advanced with his gallant little army towards 



SURRENDER OF MULL'S AR.MV 61 

the fort, his left flank boiii^ giuinled by the Indians, and his 
right resting on the river whicii was connnanded by the guns 
of the Queen Charlotte. The cannon on the British batteries 
at Sandwich now began hring vigorously, and with fatal 
results to the American garrison. One shot which fell amongst 
a group standing at the door of one (^f the officers' quarters, 
killed three officers, one of them Lieutenant Hanks the late 
commandant at Mackinac, and wounded others. Two or 
three succeeding shots ])roved almost equally destructive and 
it was evident that the Sandwicli ))atteries had got the range 
only too well. An extreme state of demoralization prevailed 
within the fort in which there were many women and other 
non-combatants in a terrified condition. The place was 
crowded with troops, and yet they were utterly helpless 
against the cannon balls which were dealing death and des- 
truction around them. 

At this time when General Brock, now within a few hundred 
yards of the fort, was preparing to deliver an assault, a white 
flag was displayed from the w^alls and General Hull's aide-de- 
camp was seen emerging from the American stronghokl with 
a flag of truce. He bore proposals for a cessation of hostilities 
with a view to an immediate capitulation, and General Brock 
sent Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell and Captain Glegg to the 
American general to arrange the terms which were speedily 
agreed upon and signed. At noon the same day, a beautiful 
Sabbath morning, while the people of the United States were 
praying in their churches for the success of their unholy inva- 
sion of Canada, the American standard was lowered and the 
British flag raised over Fort Detroit. All the troops under 
the command of General Hull, numbering two thousand five 
hundred men, became prisoners of war, and all the armament 
and stores of the army passed into the hands of the British. 
The troops surrendered comprised the 4th U. S. Regiment of 
infantry and detachments of the 1st and 3rd Regiments, two 
troops of cavalry, one company of artillery engineers, three 
regiments of Ohio militia volunteers, and one regiment of 
Michigan militia. All the detached forces, including those 



62 THE WAR OF 1812 

of McArthur and Brush, were embraced in the capitulation. 
The militia were permitted to return to their homes on con- 
dition that they did not serve again during the war, unless 
exchanged. Thirty-three pieces of cannon were surrendered, 
eight of which were of brass, two thousand five hundred stand 
of arms, forty barrels of gunpowder, four hundred rounds of 
24-pound shot, one thousand cartridges and a vast quantity 
and variety of military stores. The armed brig Adams also 
became a prize ; she was re-named the Detroit. 

Thus ended in disaster and disgrace the first attempt to 
invade Canada. Undertaken in the wantonness of imagined 
power, for the subjection of a friendly people and the destruc- 
tion of institutions which they cherished, it was doomed to 
failure from the outset, because it was entered upon without 
knowledge, discipline or skill, or even that ordinary courage 
which every soldier is supposed to possess. 

The detachment of Brush with its convoy of cattle and 
provisions for the army had been included in the capitulation 
at the express request of Hull, as otherwise it would have been 
liable to be cut off and destroyed by the Indians, now relieved 
of any apprehensions in regard to Detroit. Captain Elliott 
and two companions were sent, on the day after the surrender, 
to the river Raisin with a flag of truce and a copy of the ar- 
ticles of capitulation to receive the surrender of Brush and 
his command. Brush had already received a note from 
McArthur enclosing a letter from Hull notifying him of the 
capitulation, yet he pretended to doubt the genuineness of 
Elliott's communication and put him in confinement. Then, 
hastily packing up the public property at the Raisin and 
driving the cattle before him, he started with his whole com- 
mand for Ohio, leaving orders for Elliott to be released next 
day. This sample of Yankee "smartness" showed that the 
instincts of this Ohio officer, instead of being such as one 
would expect to find in the breast of an officer and a gentle- 
man, were those of a thief, for the public property and arms 
thus carried off had been surrendered and belonged to the 
British government. In view of this piece of Ohio trickery 



SURRENDER OF HULL'S ARMY 63 

it would have been quite })roj)er for General lirock to have 
refused to permit the Ohio volunteers, who had l)econie pri- 
soners of war, to return home on parole, as was provided in 
the cai)itulation; but he took no sueh step in reprisal. No 
doubt he thought it well to leave a monopoly of convention- 
breaking to the people whose Congress broke the convention 
of Saratoga in 1777, and who, instead of sending Burgoyne's 
army home to England, as had been solemnly i)romised, kept 
them prisoners for several years at Charlottesville, Virginia. 
The militia and volunteers were, therefore, permitted to return 
home, as had been stipulated, but the regulars were sent to 
Montreal and afterwards to Quebec. 

The entrance of General Hull and his connnand into Quebec 
was made the occasion of a notable demonstration, every one 
being anxious to see this ruthless relic of the Revolution who 
had so suddenly descended from the position of an exterminat- 
ing invader to that of a humble captive. It was remarked 
at the time, and sliould be remembered now, that the Indians, 
whom Hull had execrated, had been more merciful to his men 
than he would have been to the peaceful people of Canada; 
for, in the procession of prisoners, there were captives who 
had been taken by the Indians and treated well, and there 
were wounded men at Detroit to whom the Indians had given 
quarter at Brownstown. The most diligent American histor- 
ian has failed to unearth a single case of "Indian atrocity" 
connected with Brock's campaign and the surrender of Hull 
in the North- West. 

The surrender of Hull was a dreadful blow to the pride of 
the American people, and most damaging to the prestige of 
their government. It became necessary for them to find a 
victim to appease the popular wrath, and a convenient one 
was found in the general himself, who assumed all the respon- 
sibility of the affair. Lewis Cass prepared the public mind 
to look calmly on while Hull was being sacrificed by publish- 
ing a conununication addressed to the government in which 
the patriotism and bravery of the army and the incompetency 
of the general were drawn with a strong hand. Hull was 



64 



THE WAR OF 1812 




Gold Medal Awarded to Lieut.-Colonel 
John Macdonell to Commemorate the 
Capture of Detroit 

Now in possession of J. A. Macdonell, K.C., 
Alexandria. — From "Richardson's War of 
1812." By permission of the publishers. 



afterwards tried by a 
court - martial, presided 
over by General Dear- 
born, his enemy, found 
guilty of cowardice and 
unofficerlike conduct and 
sentenced to be shot. 
President Madison ap- 
proved the sentence but 
remitted the punishment. 
This was in April, 1814, 
and four months later 
President Madison was 
showing the whole world 
the quality of his own 
mettle by running away 
from Bladensburg, al- 
most before a shot had 
been fired on that memor- 
able field. Hull was no 
doubt a weak and incom- 
petent man, but had he 
been otherwise he would 
have been out of harmony 
with the army he com- 
manded, the volunteer 
portion of which was 
nothing but a mutinous 
mob without discipline or 
regard for their leaders, 
as their conduct showed. 
It did not lie in the 
power of generalship to 
make these men fit to 
encounter the disciplined 
British or the patriotic 
Canadians in the field, 



SURRENDER OF HULL'S ARMY 65 

and, therefore, Hull was unjustly condemned. The persons 
on whom the vengeance of the American people should 
have fallen were Mr. Madison and the members of his 
Cabinet who ordered the invasion of Canada by such a 
force. 



CHAPTER V 

BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 

It was a fortunate thing for the people of Canada that 
Secretary Eustis was so much enamoured of his own special 
enterprise against the Detroit frontier that he bestowed a 
smaller share of his attention on the other armies embraced 
in the contemplated plan of invasion, than the exigencies of the 
case seemed to demand. General Dearborn had been ap- 
pointed first major-general or acting commander-in-chief in 
February, and the call for one hundred thousand militia had 
been issued in April, but there was no army ready to take the 
field when war was declared. Soon after the commencement 
of hostilities he fixed his headquarters at Greenbush, opposite 
Albany, and established there a military depot. His orders 
from the war department were to prepare for a movement in 
the direction of Niagara, Kingston, and Montreal, to take 
charge of the militia which Governor Tompkins had called 
out, and to make demonstrations against the Canadian frontier 
so as to prevent reinforcements being sent to Maiden by the 
British. The militia of New York state, which was being 
collected under his banner, was formidable in point of numbers ; 
the quota being twelve thousand men, divided into two divi- 
sions and eight brigades, comprising twenty regiments, 
Stephen Van Rensselaer of Albany was appointed to the com- 
mand of this force, and was charged with the duty not only 
of defending the frontier of the state from St. Regis to Penn- 
sylvania but also of invading Canada itself. This gentleman 
was not a military man, but a politician who had been op- 
posed to the war, and whom it was thought proper to concili- 
ate by this appointment. It, therefore, became necessary for 



BATTLE OF QUEEXSTON HEIGHTS 



67 



him to take, as his aide and niihtary adviser, his cousin Colonel 
Solomon Van Rensselaer, who had served in the regular army. 
Thus, by this unique arrangement, the singular spectacle was 
presented of a commander-in-chief going to school, as it were, 
to learn the art of war. 

The British government, as has been seen, on the twenty- 
third of June, — four days after war had been declared but 




Gkxeual Deakborn 
Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armies in 1812. 

long before any news of it reached England — revoked its 
orders-in-council so far as they affected the United States. 
So certain were the British authorities that this would satisfy 
the Americans, that they instructed the admiral on the North 
American station to suspend proceedings against captured 
vessels, and Sir George Prevost was advised to propose an 
armistice and a suspension of operations on land pending a 



68 THE WAR OF 1812 

communication with the United States government. The 
governor-general accordingly sent Adjutant-General Baynes 
to Greenbush, where, on the sixth of August, he concluded 
an armistice with General Dearborn. Sir George Prevost 
had desired that it should be made to apply to the operations 
on the Detroit frontier as well as to those to the eastward, 
but, as the former were not under General Dearborn's control, 
this could not be done. Thus it happened that the very steps 
taken by Secretary Eustis to win glory for himself led to the 
surrender of the army he controlled ; for, if the armistice had 
applied to the Detroit frontier, Hull would have been saved. 
The American government refused to ratify the armistice, 
putting forth by way of justification several pretexts, such 
as, — that the president doubted the authority to suspend 
the proceedings of prize courts ; that he saw no security against 
the Indians ; and that the arrangement was unequal as it would 
afford an opportunity to reinforce Canada. Dearborn was 
peremptorily ordered to bring the armistice to a close, and it 
terminated on the twenty-ninth of August. Mr. Madison 
and his advisers believed that all Canada must speedily be- 
come their prize, and so, regardless of all else but the easy 
triumph which they anticipated, they resolved to go on with 
the war. 

The armistice, while it lasted, was very detrimental to Brit- 
ish interests, for it enabled the Americans to convey supplies 
and munitions of war for their army from Oswego to Niagara 
by water, and it released a number of commercial vessels 
blockaded at Ogdensburg, which were afterwards converted 
into war ships by which the command of Lake Ontario was, 
for a time, wrested from the British. 

The Niagara frontier, which on the Canadian side is some 
thirty miles in length, is naturally weak and liable to attack 
from the other shore at many points. It was impossible for 
General Brock with the small force at his command, which 
did not exceed twelve hundred regulars and militia, to guard 
it strongly, as an overwhelming force was liable to be landed 
either at Fort Erie, Queenston or Fort George, and one of 



70 THE WAR OF 1812 

these places occupied before assistance could reach it. He, 
however, disposed his troops to the best advantage the circum- 
stances would admit of, and trusted to vigilance and activity 
to supply the place of numbers. Fort George, which was 
about a mile from Newark, as Niagara was then named, was 
the headquarters of the general and was garrisoned by part 
of the 41st Regiment and about three hundred militia. Guns 
were mounted between Fort George and Queenston, the 
principal battery being on Vrooman's Point a mile below 
that place. Here was placed a 24-pounder carronade which 
commanded both Lewiston on the American side of the river, 
and the Queenston landing. Queenston was occupied by 
the flank companies of the 49th Regiment under Captains 
Dennis and Williams and a body of militia, the whole num- 
bering about three hundred rank and file. On Queenston 
Heights was a battery mounting an 18-pounder which com- 
manded the river. At Chippawa were a small detachment 
of the 41st Regiment under Captain Bullock and the flank 
companies of the 2nd Lincoln militia under Captains Hamilton 
and Rowe. At Fort Erie, which was in an unfinished condi- 
tion, was a small garrison consisting of a detachment of the 
49th Regiment and some militia. Guns were mounted a 
short distance below Fort Erie, which commanded Black 
Rock on the American side of the river. The forces named 
formed a very inadequate provision for the defence of so 
extensive a line of frontier, but they were all that were 
available. 

General Van Ransselaer arrived at Fort Niagara on the 
thirteenth of August, at which time the armistice was in force. 
It was terminated, as already stated, on the twenty-ninth, 
but General Dearborn was so leisurely in his movements that 
Van Rensselaer was not informed of the fact until the twelfth 
of September. The delay, however, made no difference for 
he was in no condition to begin active operations. The militia 
gathered slowly, and it was not until the first week in October 
that he felt himself strong enough to invade Canada. Van 
Rensselaer's plan of invasion, as disclosed to his subordinates, 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 71 

Major-General Hull of the militia of western New York/and 
Brigadier Smyth, of the regular army, can best be stated in 
his own words: "I propose," said he, ''that we immediately 
concentrate the regular force in the neighbourhood of Niagara 
and the militia at Lewiston,make the best possible dispositions, 
and^at the same time the regulars will pass Foui- Mile Creek 
to a'point in the rear of the works of Fort George and take it 







Fort Niagara (U.S.) 
At the mouth of the Niagara River, as it was in 1812. From an old print. 

by storm; I wDI pass the river here (Lewiston) and carry the 
heights of Queenston. Should we succeed we shall effect 
a great discomfiture of the enemy by breaking their line of 
communication, driving their shipping from the mouth of the 
river, leaving them no rallying point in this part of the country, 
appalling the minds of the Canadians, and opening a wide and 
safe communication for our supplies. We shall save our land, 
wipe away part of the score of our past disgrace, get excellent 
barracks and winter quarters, and at least be prepared for an 
early campaign another year." The letter in which this 
comprehensive plan of invasion was thus detailed, contained 
an invitation to the officers named to meet him in council; 
but the council was not held, owing to the failure of General 



72 THE WAR OF 1812 

Smyth to attend. The American commanding general was, 
therefore, left to his own plans as to the best way to drive the 
British from the Niagara frontier. 

While General Van Rensselaer was thus engaged in the 
agreeable duty of taking Canada, on paper, the press and 
people of the United States were manifesting an extreme im- 
patience at the slowness of his movements. They could not 
understand why he did not instantly take possession of the 
Upper Province. Here was a territory inhabited by less than 
one hundred thousand souls and guarded by a few militia 
and regulars. Was it to be supposed that they could defend 
themselves against the great state of New York with its one 
million of people, aided by the whole power of the United 
States? In this case there was no danger of communications 
being cut, as was the case with Hull, for the whole route 
through the state of New York to the frontier was well settled, 
and no interference with the passage of troops or supplies 
was possible. Thus the impatient public argued, and there 
seemed to be a good deal of reason in what they said. General 
Dearborn himself appears to have held similar views, for on 
the twenty-sixth of September he wrote to Van Rensselaer: 
" At all events we must calculate on possessing Canada before 
the winter sets in." 

The militia of the state were also anxious to begin active 
operations. They desired to wipe away the disgrace of Hull's 
surrender, and their clamour to be led against the enemy be- 
came so loud that Van Rensselaer feared his army would break 
up in confusion unless he made an immediate advance. The 
martial zeal of the militia was further inflamed by the success 
of an enterprise which was undertaken by Lieutenant Elliott 
of the United States navy, who had been sent to superintend 
the construction of a fleet on Lake Erie. Two small vessels, 
the Detroit of two hundred tons, which had been captured at 
Detroit, and the Caledonia of ninety tons, were lying off Fort 
Erie on the eighth of October. The Detroit mounted six 
6-pounders, was manned by a crew of fifty-six men, and had 
on board thirty American prisoners. The Caledonia had two 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 73 

4-pounders, a crew of twelve men, and ten American prisoners. 
That night Elhott, in two large boats manned by one hundred 
and twenty-four soldiers and sailors, succeeded in boarding 
and capturing both vessels, no very difhcult achievement when 
it is considered that the prisoners they had on board were 
almost as numerous as their crews, and that the attack was 
a complete surprise. The Caledonia was carried under the 
guns of the American battery at Black Rock; but the Detroit 
was driven on Squaw Island and destroyed, neither the Ameri- 
cans nor the British being strong enough to retain possession 
of her. 

After this achievement any postponement of the invasion 
of Canada would have been regarded as unpatriotic. General 
Van Rensselaer was well aware of the w^eakness of the British 
force and he considered his own army quite strong enough 
for the work. He had six thousand three hundred men, of 
which three thousand six hundred and fifty were regulars 
and two thousand six hundred and fifty militia. At Lewiston, 
which was the headquarters of the American general, were 
two thousand two hundred and seventy militia and nine 
hundred regulars. At Fort Niagara there was a garrison of 
eleven hundred regulars, nearly as many as the entire force 
which Brock had at his disposal to guard the thirty miles of 
frontier. On the tenth of October a spy, whom General Van 
Rensselaer had sent across the river to the British camp, re- 
turned with the false report that General Brock w^ith all his 
disposable force had moved off in the direction of Detroit. 
This news at once brought the scheme of invasion to a head. 
The general resolved to make the crossing early on the morning 
of the eleventh at Lewiston, where the river is not more than 
an eighth of a mile in width but Hows with a very swift current. 
Accordingly, thirteen large boats capable of carrying three 
hundred and fifty men were prepared, experienced boatmen 
were secured, and the command of the flotilla given to Lieu- 
tenant Sims, who w^as considered to be the ablest officer for 
the service. At the appointed hour the troops were ready, 
Colonel Van Rensselaer, who was to lead them, at their head. 



74 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Lieutenant Sims entered the foremost boat and started, and 
as soon as he got away from the shore it was discovered that 
he had taken most of the oars with him. In vain the others 
waited for his return. Sims crossed over with his boat, and 
as soon as he had landed on Canadian soil took to his heels 
and was no more seen by his too confiding countrymen. The 
rest of the intended invaders waited on the American shore 
in the midst of a furious rain-storm until daylight, and then 
marched back to their camps drenched to the skin, but more 
determined than ever to capture Canada. 




Looking down the Niagara River from Queenston Heights towards 
Lake Ontario 

The village of Queenston is just below the Heights. Lewiston, on the United States 
side, is just across the river. 



On the following night a more successful attempt was made. 
It was arranged that Colonel Van Rensselaer should first cross 
with three hundred regulars and the same number of militia, 
to be followed by more regulars and militia. Three o'clock 
on the morning of the thirteenth was the appointed hour for 
the start, and it proved intensely dark, and, therefore, favour- 
able for the enterprise. The boats, thirteen in number, were 
conducted by a citizen of Lewiston who was familiar with the 
river; and the place of landing on the Canadian shore was to 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 75 

be at a point just beneath the site where afterwards stood the 
Lewiston suspension bridge. Tlie regulars reached the boats 
first and crossed over, taking with them about sixty of the 
mihtia. Tlu'ee of the boats, in one of which was Lieutenant- 
Colonel Chrystie, lost their way and put back, but the other 
ten with two hundred and twenty-five regulars reached the 
landing-place in safety, landed the men and put back for 
reinforcements. Before this the alarm had been given and 
the 24-pounder on Vrooman's Point, and the 18-pounder on 
Queenston- Heights began firing on the American boats, and 
this seems to have been the cause of Chrystie's retirement. 
His boatmen had become demoralized and had sought the 
American side of the river. One of the two boats which ac- 
companied him, however, crossed over by his orders to the 
Queenston side, while the other made a bad landing on the 
Canadian shore and was captured. The American batteries 
at Lewiston replied vigorously to the British guns and sought 
to cover the landing of the troops which were now hurried 
across as rapidly as possible. 

Queenston, as already stated, was at this time held 
by the flank companies of the 49th Regiment under Cap- 
tains Dennis and Williams and a body of York militia, the 
whole numbering three hundred rank and file. As soon as 
the landing of the Americans became known Captain Dennis 
with sixty men, made up of parts of the grenadier company 
of the 49th and Captain Hatt's company of the Lincoln militia, 
and a 3-pounder, advanced against Colonel Van Rensselaer's 
force whicli was now awaiting the return of the boats with 
the militia. The British made their presence known by 
pouring a deadly volley into the American ranks, and a brisk 
skirmish followed. The guns of the Lewiston batteries were 
turned on the little British detachment, and the Americans 
were reinforced from the other side of the river. They had 
suffered severely, Colonel Van Rensselaer and several other 
American officers being among the wounded. Captain Dennis 
was now joined by the remaining subdivisions of the 
grenadiers and of Hatt's com])any of militia, wliile the light 



76 THE WAR OF 1812 

infantry of the 49th under Captain WiUiams, and Captain 
Chishohn's company of York mihtia opened a severe fire on 
the Americans from the brow of the heights. The invaders, 
who had been able to advance to the plateau, were now com- 
pelled to fall back on the beach below the hill and take shelter 
from the fire of the British. There they were further rein- 
forced by the arrival of more regulars from Lewiston. 

General Brock, who was at Fort George when the attack 
was made, was aroused at the first alarm, and, accompanied 
by his aides Macdonell and Glegg, at once galloped to the 
scene of action. He arrived at the battery on the heights about 
break of day, and, observing that the Americans were being 
strongly reinforced, ordered Captain Williams with his regu- 
lars and militia to descend the hill and support Captain Dennis. 
The only force then left on the heights was the twelve 
men in charge of the 18-pounder. Seeing the heights thus 
denuded of troops, Colonel Van Rensselaer conceived the idea 
of capturing them by surprise. There were among his officers 
two lieutenants who knew the ground well and who under- 
took to guide a force by a concealed path to a point behind 
the battery. Captain Wool was ordered to this duty, and 
taking a strong detachment with him he proceeded to carry 
out his instructions. As some of the men had been seen to 
falter in the previous skirmish. Colonel Van Rensselaer ordered 
his aide-de-camp, Judge-Advocate Lush, to follow the column 
and shoot every soldier who evinced any disposition to retire. 
The path which Wool took had been observed by General 
Brock, but he was assured by those whose local knowledge 
should have been superior to his, that it was inaccessible, 
and so it was left unguarded. The result of this incorrect 
information was the loss of his own valuable life. 

The first intimation that Brock had of the presence of the 
Americans on the heights was the sight of them issuing from 
the woods a few yards to the rear of the battery. As they 
were in force this necessitated a speedy retreat from the hill, 
and the general, his two aides and the twelve gunners, accord- 
ingly retired, leaving the Americans in possession of the 18- 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 77 

pounder. Despatching a courier to Fort George for reinforce- 
ments, General Brock took command of Captain Williams's 
little force of regulars and militia wliich numbered about one 
hundred men, and led them up against the three or four 
hundred American regulars and militia who now occupied the 
battery. As he was gallantly showing tliem the path to vic- 
tory and cheering them on, this brave soldier was struck in 
the breast by a bullet, and almost immediately expired. His 
aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, now arrived 
with the two flank companies of the York militia and led them 
and Williams's detachment, the whole numbering about two 
hunth-ed men, up the heights against the enemy. Wool and 
his men were driven from the battery and forced to spike the 
18-pounder, but at that moment both Macdonell and Williams 
were wounded, the former mortally, and being without a 
leader the British and Canadians were forced to fall back. As, 
from the great number of the enemy now on the heights, it was 
evident they could not be dislodged until reinforcements ar- 
rived. Captain Dennis, who now took the command, led his 
little force to a position in front of the battery on Vrooman's 
Point. The Americans proceeded to establish themselves on 
the heights by despatching flanking parties, gathering up 
their wounded and drilling out the 18-pounder, which Wool 
says in his report they desired to bring to bear on the village. 
Just then the chief, Norton, made his appearance on the field 
followed by about fifty Indians, They drove in the enemy's 
flanking parties and terrified some of the militia, but, after a 
sharp skirmish, fell back before his overwhelming force. 

The invaders, however, were not to be long permitted to 
rest undisturbed. Major-General SheafTe was advancing 
rapidly from Fort George with reinforcements consisting 
of three hundred and eighty rank and file of the 41st Regiment 
and three hundred militia. These were the flank companies 
of the 1st Regiment of Lincoln militia under Captains J. Crooks 
and McEwen; the flank companies of the 4th Regiment of 
Lincoln militia, under Captains Nelles and W. Crooks; three 
companies of the 5th Regiment of Lincoln militia under Cap- 



78 THE WAR OF 1812 

tains Hall, Durand and Applegarth; Major Merritt's Niagara 
dragoons and a body of militia artillery under Captains Powell 
and Cameron. General Sheaffe marched down the St. Davids 
road to a path through the fields which was pointed out as a 




Major Thomas Merritt, U.E.L. 

Commanding Officer of Mounted Corps of Niagara district, 1812-14. Previously 
Comet in Queen's Rangers Ln the Revolutionary War. After the battle of 
Queenston he was deputed by General Sheaffe to receive the swords of the enemy. 
He was one of the pall-bearers to General Brock. He was afterwards sheriff of 
the Niagara district, and died at the age of eighty-three. 

favourable track for ascending the heights, and formed his 
men in a field near the Chippawa road. Here he was joined 
by sixty grenadiers of the 41st Regiment, under Captain 
Bullock, the flank companies of the 2nd Lincoln Regiment, 
under Captains Hamilton and Rowe, and a few of the volunteer 
sedentary militia. The whole force under General Sheaffe's 
command and available for an attack on the enemy, including 



liATTLK OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 79 

the troops engaged in the iii()inin<2;, numbered about five hun- 
dred and forty regulars, four luuidrcd and fifty mihtia and 
a few Indians. 

General Van Rensselaer, from the heights whither he had 
followed his army, had seen the approach of General Sheaffe's 
force, and also observed that the troops at Lewiston were 
embarking very slowly. He passed over at once to accelerate 
their movements, but, to use his own language, to his utter 
astonishment he found that " the ardour of the unengaged 
troops had entirely subsided." He says, "I rode in all direc- 



*%■ (»** 




Captain Wim.iam Hamilton Merhitt 

Son of Major Thomas Merritt, served with his father during the war. Afterwards 
took a prominent part in Upper Canada politics. 

tions, urged the men by every consideration to pass over, but 
all in vain. Lieutenant-Colonel Bloom, who had been wound- 
ed in action, returned, mounted his horse, and rode through 
the camp, as did also Judge Peck who happened to be here, 



80 THE WAR OF 1812 

exhorting the companies to proceed — but all in vain." The 
militia of New York had suddenly abdicated their functions 
as soldiers and had become expounders of the law. A week 
before they had been clamouring to be led into Canada, now 
they set up the plea that as militia they were not liable to 
serve out of their own state. They had seen the wounded 
come over from Queenston and it was not a pleasant sight. 
They had been told by their companions of the terrible powers 
of the ''green tigers," as they called the men of the 49th Regi- 
ment, and they did not desire to meet them on the field. Those 
excellent sticklers for the constitution have been somewhat 
severely dealt with by their own countrymen, so that it is 
unnecessary for a Canadian writer to reopen the wound. They 
have been denounced as "cowards" and "poltroons;" their 
correct constitutional views have been held up to public 
scorn as "a miserable subterfuge," and they have been de- 
signated as proper objects for "a storm of indignation." 

As the Americans on Queenston Heights could not be 
reinforced, General Sheaffe made very short work of them. 
He had placed two pieces of field artillery with thirty men 
under Lieutenant Holcroft in front of Queenston to prevent 
the enemy from entering the village, and he now advanced 
upon the Americans with two 3-pounders. The light company 
of the 41st Regiment under Lieutenant Mclntyre, with about 
fifty militia and thirty or forty Indians fell upon the Ameri- 
can right. A single volley was followed by a bayonet charge 
which drove the invaders back in confusion. Then Sheaffe 
ordered the whole line to charge, and the Americans broke 
instantly and fled, a terrified and demoralized mob. Some 
threw themselves over the precipices, some escaped down the 
pathway; there was no thought among any of them but to 
get in safety to the American side of the river. Many leaped 
into the swift current and swam across; many were drowned 
in attempting to do this, and others seized such boats as were 
on the Queenston side and rowed across. To the majority, 
however, such means of escape were not available, and the 
American general. Brigadier Wadsworth, sent in a flag of truce 




LIEUTEN.VNT-COLONEL WiNFIEI-D ScOTT 

Who carried in the flag of truce when nine hundred and thirty-one United States 
troops surrendered on Queenston Heights. — From Peterson's " Military Heroes." 



82 THE WAR OF 1812 

by Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott offering to surrender 
the whole force, which was immediately done. The Ameri- 
cans who thus laid down their arms, numbered nine hundred 
and thirty-one, including seventy-three officers. This number 
included two boat-loads captured in the morning. They ac- 
knowledged a loss of ninety killed and one hundred wounded, 
but these round numbers are probably under the mark. The 
best estimates place the number of Americans who crossed 
over to Canada at one thousand five hundred, and it is 
impossible there could have been fewer, unless some of the 
regulars, as well as the militia, disobeyed orders and stood 
upon the constitution, for there were, including Lieutenant- 




After the battle of Queenston Heights, seventy-three United States officers surren- 
dered their swords. This is one of those surrendered on that occasion, 
and is now in possession of the Merritt family, St. Catharines. 

Colonel Scott's regiment, one thousand three hundred regu- 
lars in Lewiston on the morning of the invasion, and three 
hundred militia were taken on Queenston Heights with 
arms in their hands. The British loss amounted to eleven 
killed and sixty wounded. This includes the loss suffered 
by the militia who covered themselves with glory on that 
day. The Indians lost five killed and nine wounded. The 
only officers killed in the battle were General Brock and his 
aide, Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, ''whose gallantry and 
merit," to quote General Sheaffe's words, "render him worthy 
of his chief." 




Brock's Monument on Queenston Heights 



84 THE WAR OF 1812 

It is hardly possible to exaggerate the extent of the loss 
which Canada suffered in the death of Sir Isaac Brock. At 
the time it was justly regarded as an offset to the victory, and 
the lapse of years has strengthened that impression. He was 
a man of such energy and skill that, had he lived, the subse- 
quent campaigns would have assumed a very different com- 
plexion. He was the only officer in Canada of sufficient rank 
and authority to be able to counteract the malign influence of 
Sir George Prevost, whose conduct throughout the war was 
such as to leave students of history in doubt even as to his 
loyalty. Yet there were compensations for Brock's death 
in the example which he left behind him of chivalrous daring 
and unswerving devotion to duty. His name sounds to-day 
in Canada as the watchword of the patriot, and no bugle blast 
could call the loyal to arms more quickly than a demand that 
they should emulate the heroic Brock. The traveller who 
approaches Queenston Heights, from whatever quarter, can 
see the lofty column which the people of this land have 
erected to his memory standing boldly out against the sky- 
line to inform the whole world that patriotism still lives in 
Canada. If ever the men of Ontario need a rallying-ground 
against any future invader they will find one on Queenston 
Heights beneath the shadow of the monument they have 
reared to General Brock. 



CHAPTER VI 

ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 

While the battle was going on at Queenston, the batteries 
of the American fort Niagara and of Fort George commenced 
a vigorous cannonade which continued for several hours, or 
until the American garrison under Captain Leonard was com- 
pelled to evacuate its fort and retire out of gun shot. The 
enemy fired red hot shot, and, with an utter disregard of the 
courtesies of civilized warfare, turned their guns on the vil- 
lage of Newark and set several houses on fire. The guns on 
the British batteries near Fort Erie also opened on the Ameri- 
can barracks at Black Rock, and there was a brisk interchange 
of shots which continued until a ball from a heavy gun, aimed 
by Bombardier Walker of the Royal Artillery, penetrated a 
magazine in the east barracks at Black Rock from which pow- 
der was being removed and blew it up, causing a great de- 
struction of life and property. At the request of General 
Van Rensselaer, Major-General Sheaffe, who was now in com- 
mand of the Niagara frontier, agreed upon an armistice on 
the morning after the battle of Queenston. It was confined 
to the frontier between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and was 
to be terminated on thirty hours' notice. This arrangement 
was viewed with great disfavour in Canada, because it was 
justly thought that the motive of the American general in 
asking for a cessation of hostilities was to enable him, without 
disturbance, to gather his forces to a head for another attack 
on the frontier. As in the demoralized condition to which 
the American army had been reduced the capture and des- 
truction of Fort Niagara was a feasible operation, there seem- 
ed to be no reason why the opportunity to take this fortress 



86 THE WAR OF 1812 

should be thrown away. Had this been done, and the posi- 
tion held, any further invasion of Canada from that direction 
would have been impossible, and the destruction which fell 
on Newark and the Niagara frontier generally, at a later 
period, would have been averted. 

The American regulars captured at Queenston were sent 
to Quebec as prisoners of war for exchange, but the militia 
were paroled and allowed to go home. The whole affair was 
a deplorable humiliation to the American people, who had 
expected nothing less than that their Niagara army would 
winter in Upper Canada. In the Detroit surrender there 
was some slight solace for their pride in the fact that they 
could lay the blame upon General Hull, and, while represent- 
ing him as weak and cowardly, exalt his army as a band 
of heroes who had been balked of their conquest; but the 
Queenston disgrace was a dark cloud that had no silver 
lining. It was not the general who was at fault but the men, 
and the shame was not that of an individual, but of a nation. 
Here was a militia army of invasion that would not invade, 
and a band of heroes that dreaded the smell of gunpowder. 
It may be of interest to note the fact that the militia which 
thus stood upon its constitutional rights belonged to the 
brigades of Generals Wadsworth and Miller, and comprised 
the regiments from Seneca, Geneva, Ontario, Oneida and 
St. Lawrence counties. 

General Van Rensselaer, having arrived at the conclusion 
that he could be more useful to his country elsewhere than 
at the head of the army, on the twenty-fourth of October 
resigned the command of the troops on the Niagara frontier 
to General Smyth of the regular service. This officer at 
once began making preparations for a third invasion of Can- 
ada, and as a preliminary measure, issued, on the tenth of 
November, a proclamation to the "men of New York, " in- 
viting them to flock to his standard. In this remarkable 
document he took occasion to censure both Hull and Van 
Rensselaer by saying: "One army has been disgracefully 
surrendered and lost. Another has been sacrificed by a 



ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 87 

precipitate attempt to pass over at the strongest point of 
the enemy's hnes with most incompetent means. The cause 
of these miscarriages is apparent. The commanders were 
popular men destitute ahke of theory and experience in 
the art of war." "In a few days," he continued, "the 
troops under my command will plant the American standard 
in Canada. They are men accustomed to obedience, silence 
and steadiness, they will conquer or they will die. Will you 
stand with your arms folded and look on this interesting 
struggle? The present is the hour of renown. Have you 
not a wish for fame? Would you not choose in future times 
to be named as one of tiiose, who, imitating the heroes whom 
Montgomery led, has, in s{)ite of the seasons, visited the 
tomb of the chief and conquered the country where he lies? 
Yes, you desire your share of fame. Then seize the present 
moment; if you do not you will regret it and say: — 'The 
valiant have bled in vain, the friends of my country fell — 
and I was not there.'" 

Stimulated by these tremendous words the men of New 
York flocked to General Smyth's standard until he had more 
than four thousand five hundred troops in his camp at Black 
Rock, in addition to the large detachments at Fort Niagara 
and other parts of the frontier. On the seventeenth of Nov- 
ember, the American general, thinking that the patriotism 
of his army needed some further stimulant, issued a second 
proclamation addressed to the soldiers of the "Army of the 
Centre." In this truly Napoleonic document General Smyth 
says: "Companions in Arms — The time is at hand when you 
will cross the stream at Niagara to conquer Canada, and to 
secure the peace of the American frontier. You will enter 
a country that is to be one of the United States. You will 
arrive among a people who are to become your fellow-citizens. 
Soldiers, you are amply provided for war. You are superior 
in numbers to the enemy. Your personal strength and ac- 
tivity are greater. Your weapons are longer. The regular 
soldiers of the enemy are generally old men whose best years 
have been spent in the sickly climate of the West Indies. 



88 THE WAR OF 1812 

They will not be able to stand before you — you, who charge 
with the bayonet. You will shun the eternal infamy that 
awaits the man, who, having once come within sight of the 
enemy, basely shrinks in the moment of trial. Soldiers of 
every corps, it is in your power to retrieve the honour of your 
country and crown yourselves with glory, come on my heroes ! 
And when you attack the enemy's batteries let your rallying 
word be, 'The cannon lost at Detroit or deathi'" 

General Smyth had always maintained that the Niagara 
River should be crossed at some point between Niagara and 
Chippawa, and he made active preparations for a movement 
m that quarter. On the nineteenth of November he gave 
notice that the armistice was to end, and on the twenty-first 
the American batteries at Black Rock, and those on the 
Canadian shore opposite, cannonaded each other as did Fort 
George and Fort Niagara at the other end of the line. These 
operations were not attended with much loss on either side, 
but several houses in Newark and the buildings in Fort 
Niagara were repeatedly set on fire. On the twenty-fifth 
General Smyth issued orders for "the whole army" to be 
ready to march at a moment's warning. The period for the 
third invasion of Canada had arrived. On the twenty- 
seventh a general muster of the troops at Black Rock showed 
that he had four thousand five hundred men in line. They 
consisted of his own regulars, the Baltimore volunteers under 
Colonel Winder, the Pennsylvania volunteers under General 
Tannehill, and the New York volunteers under General Peter 
B. Porter. The regulars of this army numbered upwards of 
one thousand five hundred. Nor was there any lack of facilities 
for crossing the river. Seventy boats, each capable of carrying 
forty men, were provided in addition to five large boats, 
each capable of holding one hundred men, besides ten scows 
for artillery and a number of small private boats, so that 
three thousand five hundred men could cross at once, a force 
so overwhelming that had they been landed on the Canadian 
shore successful resistance would have been impossible. 

The force on the Canadian side of the river above Chippawa 




A Sergeant of the Grenadier Company of the 49th Regiment 
Present at Queenston — Brock's and Fitz Gibbon's Regiment. 



90 THE WAR OF 1812 

was in almost ludicrous contrast to this formidable array 
which General Smyth commanded. At Fort Erie, which 
formed the extreme right of the British position, Major 
Ormsby of the 49th Regiment was in command with eighty 
men of that regiment and fifty of the Royal Newfoundland 
Regiment under Captain Whelan. Two companies of Nor- 
folk militia under Captain Bostwick occupied the ferry oppo- 
site Black Rock and distant about a mile from Fort Erie. 
At the Red House, a building used as a barracks on the 
Chippawa road three miles from Fort Erie, were stationed 
Lieutenant Lamont with thirty-seven men of the 49th, and 
Lieutenant King of the Royal Artillery with two light field- 
guns, a 3 and a 6-pounder, worked by a few militia artillery- 
men. Near the Red House were two batteries, one mounting 
an 18 and the other a 24-pounder, in charge of Lieutenant 
Bryson of the militia artillery, and under the general direc- 
tion of Lamont. About a mile farther down the Chippawa 
road was another small detachment of the 49th numbering 
thirty-seven men, under the command of Lieutenant Bartley. 
Near Frenchman's Creek, five miles from Fort Erie, Lieutenant 
Mclntyre was stationed with the light company of the 41st 
Regiment numbering seventy rank and file. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Bisshopp, who commanded all the troops from Fort 
Erie to Chippawa, was at the latter place with a detachment 
of the 41st Regiment under Captain Saunders, a company 
of the 2nd Lincoln militia under Captain Hamilton, and a 
light 6-pounder in charge of Captain Kirby of the militia 
artillery. A short distance from Chippawa towards Fort 
Erie was a detachment of the 5th Lincoln militia under Major 
Hatt. The total number of troops available to defend the 
sixteen miles between Fort Erie and Chippawa did not exceed 
one thousand, of which four hundred occupied the five miles 
from Frenchman's Creek to Fort Erie. This last fact sug- 
gested to General Smyth a plan by which the frontier could 
be carried. This was to effect a crossing with one detach- 
ment at the ferry where the Canadian militia were stationed, 
and, while the British were concentrating in that quarter, to 



ON THE NIAGARA FROXTIKH 91 

send another detachment to Frenchman's Creek, rout the 
troops stationed there, and hold the Hne of the creek so that 
Major Ormsby could not be reinforced from Chippawa while 
the American army was crossing at Fort Erie. This was an 
excellent plan, and with a little more energy and coolness 
on the part of the Americans, and a little less vigilance on the 
Canadian side of the river, it might have succeeded. 

Between two and three o'clock on the morning of the 
twenty-eighth of November, the third invasion of Canada 
commenced. The American armies had been assembled in 
the darkness and the detachments which were to clear the 
way for the crossing of the whole army, were embarked. 
The force intended for the assault on the militia and the 
capture of the British batteries opposite Black Rock was in 
ten boats, and consisted of three hundred and twenty regu- 
lars selected from four different regiments of United States 
infantry, and eighty sailors under Lieutenant Angus. The 
whole was under the command of Captain King of the 15th 
infantry. The detachment whose duty it was to destroy 
the bridge over Frenchman's Creek consisted of Colonel 
Winder's Baltimore volunteers, four hundred and forty strong, 
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Boers tier of the 
regular army. King's party, which got away first, was 
discovered by the Norfolk militia when about half way across 
the river, and, although the night was intensely dark, the loyal 
yeomanry gave them such a warm reception that they did 
not venture to land at the point intended, but dropped down 
with the current nearly opposite to the Red House. The 
fieldpieces there fired two or three rounds, although nothing 
could be seen, and this had the effect of arousing all the 
British posts as far as Chippawa, and of frightening back to 
the American shore six of their ten boats. King landed with 
the remainder of his force consisting of one hundred regulars 
and sixty sailors and attacked Colonel Lamont's detachment 
of thirty-seven men at the Red House. After a struggle 
which lasted some time the Americans were driven back to 
the shore w^ith heavy loss, but, passing by a circuitous route 



92 THE WAR OF 1812 

in the darkness, they came on the left of Lamont's position. 
That officer mistook them for a reinforcement which was 
expected, but was rudely undeceived when a volley kiUed or 
wounded fifteen of his little party. Lamont himself and 
Lieutenant King of the artillery were severely wounded, the 
latter, as it turned out, mortally. The survivors of Lamont's 
half company were forced to retire leaving three unwounded 
prisoners in the hands of the enemy. The Americans now 
spiked the two fieldpieces and set fire to the Red House. 
As there was no adequate force to defend the batteries they 
had no difficulty in taking them, but Lieutenant Bryson 
before he retired spiked the 18-pounder. The Americans 
spiked the other gun and dismounted both. 

Major Ormsby, as soon as he heard the firing at the Red 
House, leaving Captain Whelan's detachment of the New- 
foundland Regiment to guard Fort Erie, advanced with 
his eighty men of the 49th towards the batteries by the back 
road to support Lieutenant Lamont; but having met Lieu- 
tenant Bryson, who informed him that the enemy were already 
in possession of the batteries, he changed his direction and 
moved to the right along the front road which passed below 
the batteries. This was done with a view to falling in with 
some part of Lamont's detachment, and also that of Lieu- 
tenant Bartley, a mile below the Red House. The advance 
of Major Ormsby led to a curious result. Captain King's 
regulars had become separated from the seamen under Lieu- 
tenant Angus who were gathered near the beach. The latter 
had suffered very severely in the encounter with Lamont's 
men, so as Ormsby approached Angus gathered his detach- 
ment into the boats with his wounded and some of the Bri- 
tish prisoners, and rowed back to the American shore, leaving 
Captain King and his party without any means of crossing. 
That officer fled along the shore towards Chippawa for a couple 
of miles, until he found two large boats in which he placed all 
his ofiicers and most of his detachment, but there was not room 
for the whole of it, and with the thirty men that remained 
with him he was captured by the British soon after daylight. 



ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 93 

Boerstler's eleven boats, in the meantime, had been cross- 
ing with a view to landing near the bridge over Frenchman's 
Creek, the destruction of which was the principal object of 
the expedition. Tlu> boats became separated in the dark- 
ness and four of them fell below the bridge, having been 
driven off by Lieutenant Mclntyre with the light company 
of the 41st Regiment, and were out of the fight. The other 
seven boats with Boerstler himself landed above the bridge 
and were assailed by Lieutenant Bartley witli his half com- 
pany of the 49th, and for the moment chocked, but thirty- 
seven men could not be expected to stand long against two 
hundred and eighty, so Bartley had to retire after losing all 
but seventeen of his men. Captain Bostwick now approach- 
ed with his two companies of Norfolk militia, but after a 
short skirmish, finding the enemy greatly superior in numbers 
he retired with the loss of two killed, seventeen wounded and 
six taken prisoners. The difficulties of the situation for the 
British were enormously increased by the fact that it was 
pitch dark, and the strength of the enemy unknown. Most 
American writers attempt to make a great hero of l^oerstler 
and describe how he "exerting a stentorian voice, roared in 
various directions, as though he commanded thousands, and 
created such a panic in the enemy that they fled before him 
wherever he moved." It will be seen in a subsequent chap- 
ter what a pitiful figure this loud-voiced American hero cut 
at Beaver Dam, a few months later. 

As Lieutenant Mclntyre's detachment was engaged in 
preventing the landing of the four boats that had fallen 
below the bridge, Boerstler reached that structure with- 
out further opposition, and attempted to destroy it. In 
this he failed, American writers say because the axes had 
been left in the boats, but in reality because of Major Orms- 
by's approach. A few shots were fired at his men by the 
Americans from a house above the bridge, but Ormsby push- 
ed on and crossed it, yet, although he halted there for some 
time, he could neither see the enemy nor discover his move- 
ments. The fact was that Boerstler suddenly took himself 



94 THE WAR OF 1812 

off about this time and sought safety on the American shore. 
Ormsby, after a long wait, advanced about a mile farther 
down the road where he was joined by Lieutenant Mclntyre's 
company and halted his men until daylight. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Bisshopp arrived at this time from Chippawa with 
three hundred men of the 5th Lincoln militia under Major 
Hatt, whom he had overtaken on the road. He also brought 
with him from Chippawa a light 6-pounder under Captain 
Kirby. These with Captain Saunders' detachment of the 
4lst Regiment and Captain Hamilton's company of the 2nd 
Lincoln militia under Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, brought up 
his force to about six hundred men of which two hundred 
and fifty were regulars. Bisshopp now advanced and took 
Captain King and his thirty men prisoners. Colonel Winder 
with five boats containing two hundred and fifty men, at 
this time attempted to cross to reinforce King, but all but 
the one in which Winder was were driven back by the fire of 
the light 6-pounder. Winder himself had the temerity to 
land, but the loss of six killed and twenty-two wounded in 
less time than it takes to relate it, instantly convinced him 
of the necessity of a speedy retreat. Bisshopp took up a posi- 
tion in the rear of the batteries and awaited any further at- 
tack that the enemy might make, but none was made, al- 
though the American troops had been under arms since 
daylight and the work of embarking them had been going 
on all the morning. General Smyth about noon sent over 
a summons to Bisshopp proposing the surrender of Fort Erie, 
" to spare the effusion of blood," but this demand was declined. 
The order then came for the Americans to ''disembark and 
dine, " and this ended the active operations of the day. 

The British loss in killed on this occasion was heavier than 
that in the battle of Queenston, although the whole force 
engaged did not much exceed three hundred men, and the 
severe fighting was confined to little more than half that 
number. The total was sixteen killed, thirty-seven wounded 
and thirty missing. Of this total of eighty-three the two 
companies of Norfolk militia lost twenty-six, including Cap- 



ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER 95 

tain Bostwick and Lieutenant Ryerson wounded, the latter 
severely. The American loss it is impossible now to ascer- 
tain for their historians maintain a profound silence on the 
point, but it must have been very large. The sailors returned 
a loss in killed and wounded at the Red House of thirty 
including nine of their twelve officers engaged. Winder, as 
has been seen, lost twenty-eight men of the fifty in his own 
boat; Captain King lost thirty men taken prisoners. These 
figures make up a total of eighty-eight. But to these must 
bo added the loss in killed and wounded which Captain 
King's regulars suffered at the Red House; the losses of 
Boerstler's detachment in its conflict with Lieutenant Bart- 
ley's men and Captain Bostwick's militia; the killed and 
wounded in the four boats driven off by Lieutenant Mc- 
Intyre; the losses in Winder's boats which did not land, and 
in others that were sunk in attempting to cross. Adding 
these items together it is impossible to believe that the losses 
of the enemy were less than two hundred and fifty, and pos- 
sibly they were greater. Nothing saved the British that 
day from a disaster but the heroic courage of the British and 
Canadians engaged, the vigilance of Bostwick's Norfolk mil- 
itia stationed at the ferry, the activity of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Clark and Major Hatt of the Lincoln militia in bringing up 
their reinforcements from Chippawa to Frenchman's Creek, 
a distance of ten miles, by daybreak, and, it may be added, 
the extreme caution, not to say timidity, which the Ameri- 
cans showed in crossing after Lieutenant Angus had got back 
to Black Rock with his bloody cargo of wounded from the 
Red House. No Briton or Canadian need be ashamed of 
the way in which his countrymen fought in repelling that 
formidable invasion. Bostwick's militia lost about one- 
fourth of their whole number, and Bartley's seventy-four 
men about two-thirds, for of the fifty-two men of the 49th 
who were killed, wounded, or missing, nearly all belonged 
to that little company. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Bisshopp, having recovered his field- 
guns and remounted his heavy cannon, was in a good position 



96 THE WAR OF 1812 

to resist any attack that the enemy might make. The Ameri- 
can general had called a council of his officers, but they could 
not agree as to the propriety of another attempt on Canada. 
On the evening of the twenty-ninth, however, Smyth issued 
an order for his troops to be ready to embark on the following 
morning. He addressed his men in such stirring words as 
these : " The general will be on hand. Neither rain, snow nor 
frost will prevent the embarkation. The cavalry will scour 
the fields from Black Rock to the bridge and suffer no idle 
spectators. While embarking, the music will play martial 
airs. 'Yankee Doodle' will be the signal to get under way. 
The landing will be effected in spite of cannon. The whole 
army has seen that cannon are to be little dreaded. . . . 
Hearts of War! to-morrow will be memorable in the annals 
of the United States." 

Smyth's officers objected to the time and manner of the 
proposed embarkation, and the general was induced to defer 
it until the following day, which was Tuesday, the first of 
December, and it was arranged that the American troops 
should land several miles below Black Rock and near the 
upper end of Grand Island. From that point they were to 
march directly upon Chippawa. Tuesday morning came but 
at the appointed hour only one thousand five hundred men 
were embarked, the Pennsylvania volunteers having raised the 
constitutional question that they were not compelled to fight 
out of their own country. Their example was imitated by 
others who held back from the boats and from the dangers 
which they had been eager to face a few days before. At this 
juncture Smyth hastily called a council of his regular officers 
and their decision was soon made known. The men on the 
boats were disembarked and informed that the invasion of 
Canada was abandoned for the present. The regulars were 
then ordered into winter quarters and the militia sent home. 
This ended the operations of the grand " Army of the Centre, " 
and also the military career of General Smyth. 



CHAPTER VII 

FAILURE OF DEARBORN's CAMPAIGN 

For the purpose of completing the narrative of the events 
of the year 1812 it is now necessary to go back somewhat 
and relate the occurrences on Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence, 
and the frontier from St. Regis to the head of Lake Cham- 
plain. When the war broke out the British force on Lake 
Ontario was stronger than that of the Americans, and had 
Sir George Prevost been endowed with correct military in- 
stincts he would have seen to it that this state of affairs con- 
tinued. But he apparently did not understand that the 
safety of Canada depended on the naval ascendency of the 
British on Lake Ontario, so the Americans, by greater dili- 
gence at the beginning of the war, were able to dispute that 
ascendency and occasionally wrest it from us, although, 
fortunately, not for long enough at any one time to produce 
a fatal result. In June, 1812, Commodore Earle, who com- 
manded on the lake, had five small vessels in his squadron, 
the Royal George, Prince Regent, Earl of Moira, Simcoe and 
Seneca, mounting altogether about fifty guns, chiefly car- 
ronades and long 6's. This squadron formed no part of 
the Royal Navy; the vessels were undermanned, the men 
were untrained, and Earle himself was not a competent 
teacher. On the twenty-ninth of July with this force Earle 
undertook to capture the American armed brig Oneida then 
lying at Sacketts Harbour, under the guns of a battery, but 
after a cannonade which lasted for about an hour, hauled off 
without having suffered or inflicted any particular damage. 
The Americans after this attack displayed great vigour in 
the purchase, equipment and construction of vessels for their 



FAILURE OF DEARBORX'S CA.MPAKJX 99 

fleet on Lake Ontario. Captain Isaac Chaiincey was sent 
from the Brooklyn navy yard to superintend the work of 
forming a fleet, and before the end of the season he had ac- 
compHshed much. 

In the early summer, eight American schooners had been 
chased down the St. Lawrence, while attempting to escape 
from Ogdensburg, by a flotilla of boats manned by Cana- 
dians and commanded by one Jones. Two of the vessels 
were captured and burnt, and the remainder driven back 
to Ogdensburg. There, a few days after Earle's attack on 
Sacketts Harbour, they were joined by the armed schooner 
Julia from the latter place with a large body of volunteers 
and a rifle corps. Their object was to protect the vessels 
until they could be armed and enabled to fight their way into 
the lake, but the armistice which followed shortly made this 
precaution unnecessary, and while it lasted they made their 
way unmolested to Sacketts Harbour where they were con- 
verted into vessels of war. They were named the Hamilton, 
Scourge, Conquest, Tomkins, Growler and Pert. These with 
the Madison and Julia formed a powerful squadron mount- 
ing fifty-four guns, twenty-three of them of heavy calibre, 
manned by five hundred sailors and marines. Some Ameri- 
can writers try to make this squatlron appear weaker 
than that of the British by stating that, exclusive of the 
Oneida, these vessels mounted only five guns each, but they 
dishonestly conceal the fact that thirty of the thirty-eight 
guns they carried were long guns, that six of the vessels had 
each a 32-pounder long gun on deck on a circle, so that it 
could be fired in any direction, and that the seventh had a 
24-pounder mounted in a similar manner. The importance 
of this will be better understood when it is known that no 
frigate afloat at that time carried a long gun as heavy as a 
32-pounder. The American squadron was greatly superior 
to the British for fighting purposes, and as a result of this 
preponderance was able to blockade Earle in Kingston 
during the last three or four weeks of the season. Chauncey 
even ventured with his squadron to the mouth of Kingston 



100 THE WAR OF 1812 

harbour, and undertook to attack the Royal George there, 
but he got such a warm reception from the batteries that he 
became convinced that discretion was the better part of va- 
lour and retired witli the loss of six or eight killed or wounded. 
The British suffered no loss whatever. 

Turning once more to the military events of the year we 
find General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief of the armies 
of the United States in the northern department, with a 
large force of regulars and an unlimited number of militia 
at his disposal, with orders to capture Montreal. This city 
from its situation at the head of ocean navigation, with very 
inadequate means of defence, and situated not more than 
forty miles from the American frontier, seemed not only a 
most desirable prize to the invader but one that might easily 
be gained. An American army could advance by way of 
Hudson River and the west side of Lake Champlain to Platts- 
burg and Rouse's Point, and be within striking distance of 
Montreal, without encountering an enemy. It was to pro- 
vide against such an invasion as this that Sir George Prevost 
had been most anxious to guard, for he was never found 
wanting in energy when his own safety was involved. A 
line of posts was formed along the frontier of Lower Canada 
from Yamaska to St. Regis, consisting of Major De Sala- 
berry's regiment of Canadian voltigeurs and part of the 
embodied militia. At Lacadie, twenty-five miles from the 
frontier, a brigade of the regular and militia forces was 
formed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Young 
of the 8th Regiment. It consisted of the flank companies 
of the 8th, 100th and 103rd Regiments, the Canadian Fenci- 
bles, the flank companies of the first battalion of embodied 
militia, and a detachment of Royal Artillery with six field- 
pieces. The road to the frontier was cut up and rendered 
difficult to an army by an abattis formed of trees, so that 
any sudden irruption in that cjuarter was guarded against. 
The people in the Lower Province showed a zeal in the de- 
fence of their country which was very disheartening to the 
Americans who had hoped for a different result. In order 



FAILURE OF DEAKIiOHX'S CAMPAKiN 



101 



to relieve the regulars and enable them to take the field at 
any moment, the militia of Quebec and Montreal did gar- 
rison duty, and continued it as long as the necessity for the 
employment of their services existed. In September a fifth 
battalion of militia, afterwards known as the Canadian 
chasseurs, was embodied, piiiicipally from the Montreal 
militia. The North-West Conipany raised a corps of voya- 






..•r«» 








3\ ^% 



Major Dk Sai-abkhky 
Who commanded the Canadians al La Oolle. 



gfiurs, and the merchants and tradesmen of .Montreal belong- 
ing to the first battalion of the sedentary militia organized 
themselves into four companies of volunteers for garrison 
duty and field service in case of emergency. But all these 
unusual efforts seemed to be necessary, for the enemy was 
in formidable force upon the frontier. As early as the begin- 



102 THE WAR OF 1812 

ning of September, when the armistice was brought to an 
end, Brigadier-General Bloomfield had collected about eight 
thousand men at Plattsburg — regulars, volunteers and 
militia — besides advance parties at Chazy and Champlain. 
This American army, therefore, it will be seen, was the most 
formidable of any in point of numbers, and for that reason 
the most to be dreaded. 

If there had been a master mind at the head of this strong 
force, which became still stronger before the end of the 
year, it certainly would have been heard from in connection 
with some important movement. But it seemed then, and 
also to a large extent throughout the war, as if the minds of 
the American commanders could not rise above the idea of 
a series of raids, which, however annoying they might be to 
the British, could have no influence whatever on the result 
of the contest. Of this character was the enterprise of Cap- 
tain Benjamin Forsyth against Gananoque on the St. Law- 
rence. This officer, with seventy of his own riflemen and 
thirty-four militia, crossed over from Cape Vincent on the 
night of the twentieth of September, and landed a short dis- 
tance above the village, which they entered while the inhabi- 
tants were asleep. There were forty or fifty militia in the 
place whom they encountered, and they succeeded in killing 
one man and taking four prisoners. Forsyth's party had 
only one killed and one wounded. Perhaps to the British 
wounded should be added Mrs. Stone, wife of Colonel Stone, 
who was struck by a stray American bullet as she lay on her 
bed. In Stone's house were found two kegs of fixed ammu- 
nition and a few muskets, which were carried off. In some 
American histories this petty raid figures as a desperate 
conflict in which sixty British regulars were engaged, although 
there was not a regular within twenty miles of the place. 

A more legitimate operation of war was the attempt of 
Adjutant D. W. Church to capture a number of British 
bateaux, laden with stores, that were ascending the St. Law- 
rence in charge of Major Heathcote of the 49th Regiment. 
A gunboat and Durham boat filled with men went down 



FAILURE OF 1)F:AKH()1{.\'>s CAMPAKiX 103 

the river and encountered the British near Toussaint Island, 
but were beaten off with the loss of one killed and five wound- 
ed. The Durham boat was lost in the fight, and the gun- 
boat also was nearly taken. The expedition was a disastrous 
failure. 

Oil the fourth of October Colonel Lethbridge, who com- 
manded at Prescott, made an attempt upon the American 
fort at Ogdensburg. He took with him three hundred and 
forty men of whom about half were militia, and embarked 
them in two gunboats and a number of bateaux. These 
were assailed in mid-channel by a heavy fire, and obliged to 
turn back with the loss of three killed and four wounded. 
Ogdensburg was too strongly garrisoned at that time to be 
successfully assailed, for it was held by more than one thou- 
sand two hundred men under General Brown. 

On the twenty-third of October a party of American militia 
numbering about three hundred, under the command of 
Major Young, surprised the guard of the Indian village of 
St. Regis, which consisted of a detachment of the Canadian 
voyageurs already referred to. Lieutenant Rototte and seven 
others were killed and the remainder, twenty-three in num- 
ber, captured. Montigny, the Indian agent, and the Catholic 
priest wTre also made prisoners. In this case there was no 
fighting, the guards were simply surrounded in their houses 
by ten times their number and shot down. The Americans 
in their plunderings found in the Indian agent's house a 
British flag, which that official was in the habit of displaying 
on Sundays and holidays, and this was heralded all over the 
United States as " the first flag taken during the war." Major 
Young not only represented this stolen piece of bunting as 
a regimental colour, but presented it to the state of New 
York at a public ceremonial in the following January. 

This St. Regis affair led to a speedy retaliation. Captain 
Tilden, one of the St. Regis heroes, commanded a company 
at French Mills. On the twenty-third of November, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel McMillan with one hundred and forty men, 
half regulars and half militia, surprised this party, which 



104 THE WAR OF 1812 

took to a blockhouse, but, finding themselves surrounded, 
surrendered prisoners of war. Captain Tilden and the whole 
of his command, forty-three in all, were taken with four 
bateaux, fifty-seven stand of arms and other spoil. An 
Indian interpreter named Gray who had guided Young to 
St. Regis was also captured and carried to Quebec where he 
died. As the sequel showed, the Americans would have 
done better to have missed this ''colour" and left St. Regis, 
its priest and its flag alone, for most of the St. Regis Indians 
joined the British and did good service during the war. 

While these petty operations were going on along the line 
of the St. Lawrence, General Dearborn's large army was 
inactive at Plattsburg. By the beginning of November it 
numbered about ten thousand, and of this force five thousand 
seven hundred were regulars. It was not until the sixteenth 
of that month that Dearborn made a forward movement. 
On that day with three thousand regulars he advanced al- 
most to Odelltown, which is a short distance across the boun- 
dary line of Lower Canada. Major De Salaberry, who com- 
manded the frontier posts, received early information of 
Dearborn's movement and strengthened the position of La 
Colle, which was six or seven miles from the American camp 
at Champlain, by two companies of Canadian voltigcurs, 
three hundred Indians and a small body of militia volunteers 
from the neighbouring parishes. As an invasion was now 
considered certain, one thousand nine hundred men, consist- 
ing of six hundred militia and one thousand three hundred 
of the 8th and Glengarry Regiments, were sent across the St. 
Lawrence and marched to Laprairie so as to be ready to meet 
the enemy from whatever quarter he might come. 

These timely precautions turned out to be quite unneces- 
sary. On the thirtieth of November Colonel Zebulon M. 
Pike with six himdred of his regulars crossed the La Colle 
between three and four o'clock in the morning. The enemy 
were seen by the captain of the day as he was making his 
rounds, and he heard them cocking their muskets in the 
woods. He had barely time to apprise the picket of their 



FAILURE OF DEARBOIIX'S CAMPAIGN 



105 



danger wlien the enemy surrounded the guard-hut on every 
side and (U.scharged their pieces so close to it that they set 
the roof on fire. The mihtia and In(Uans escaped from the 
building without loss, but the Americans, who had divided 
into two j)arties. commenced firing on each other, each party 
being under the imiircssion that ihe other was British. This 




Colonel Zebulon Pike 
Who commanded the United States troops at La Colle. 

singular contest was continued for about half an hour and no 
doubt prodigies of valour were performed. By the time 
they had discovered their mistake De Salaberry was upon 
them, and as soon as he approached. Colonel Zebulon Pike 
and his six hundred regulars ran away in such haste that they 
left five of their dead and five wounded on the field. These 



106 THE WAR OF 1812 

numbers and losses are given on American authority, but 
current report at the time placed the American force at more 
than double the figure named above. This skirmish ended the 
operations of Dearborn's army which had been so much dread- 
ed. That general immediately returned to Plattsburg where 
three of the regiments of regulars went into winter quarters, 
three others were sent to Burlington to winter, the artillery and 
dragoons went to Greenbush and the militia were sent home. 

Although the main object of this history is to give a truth- 
ful account of the operations of the war in Canada, some 
notice of the engagements at sea, from which the Americans 
professed to derive a full equivalent in the way of consolation 
for their defeats on land, cannot be omitted. When the war 
commenced the United States possessed seven ships that 
were rated as frigates and a number of smaller vessels. As 
the plunder of the British merchant marine was one of the 
advantages which the Americans expected to derive from 
the war, they were naturally prepared to pounce upon their 
prey at a moment's notice. In June, 1812, Commodore 
Rodgers with his flagship the President, 44, United States, 
44, Congress, 38, Hornet, 18, and Argus, 16, was waiting at 
New York ready to sail the moment he heard that war had 
been declared. On the twenty-first of June, within an hour 
of the time the news of the declaration of war reached him, 
he put to sea with his squadron. His object was the capture 
of the British homeward bound fleet which had left Jamaica 
some time before convoyed by the frigate Thalia, 36, and the 
sloop Reindeer, 18, and which, all unconscious of danger, was 
then proceeding northwards somewhere in the latitude of 
New York. This promising scheme, by which Rodgers and 
his men hoped to be enriched, was spoiled in a very unex- 
pected fashion. When thirty-six hours from port the British 
frigate Belvidera, 36, Captain Richard Byron, was sighted. 
Captain Byron had not heard of the declaration of war, and 
when he saw the squadron he stood towards it; but when 
he observed that three of the ships were frigates, and saw 
them suddenly take in their studding sails and haul up in 



FAILURE OF DEARBORN'S CAMPAIGN 107 

chase of him, he suspected hostility and stood away, goinp; 
north-east by east, the wind hein<:; fresh from the west. The 
chase lasted until midnight, the American vessels firing on 
the British frigate, and shots being frequently exchanged 
between -the J^resideuCs bow guns and the Belvideras stern 
chasers. The latter finally escaped and got into Halifax 
where she gave the first infoi'mation of the war. The Presi- 
dent lost twenty-two killed and wounded, sixteen of them 
by the bursting of a gun, the lo.ss of the Belvidera was seven 
killed and wounded. 

The first frigate action of the war was that between the 
Constitution and Guerrihe which took place on the nineteenth 
of August in latitude 41° 30' north and longitude 55° we.st. 
As this contest was a type of the three engagements in which 
Americans captured British frigates, it is proper to explain 
the causes of so singular a succession of defeats. At this 
time the British had nine hundred warshi])s on the ocean. 
manned by one hundred and foi'ty-six thousand sailoi's and 
marines. The sujjplying of m(Mi for so prodigious a Heet 
out of the population of the British Isles, then much less than 
half what it is at present, was a most difhcult task and im- 
pressment had to be resorted to. This system brought into 
the navy many good and also many worthless www, and even 
then did not provide^ a suffici(nit supi)ly. foi- the British .'^hii)S 
were nearly always short of the comj)lenient. Moreover, 
in con.sequence of the French fleets having almost disap))eared 
from the ocean, and the exercise of a false economy on the 
part of the government, gunnery practice was almost (mtirely 
neglected. The Americans on the other hand had no dith- 
culty whatever in overmanning the few .'<hii)s they .•^ent to 
sea, and in their crews wer(> many men who had been ti'aiiuMJ 
in the Boyal Navy and had deserted from it. 

But a more ))()tent cause of the British defeats was the size, 
armament and ])()wer of tiie large American frigates, as com- 
pared to the British ships they were matched against. The 
Constitution, United States, and President were sister ships 
and were the largest and most ]X)werful frigates afloat. The 



Weight of 
Broadside. 


Number of 
Men. 


736 lbs. 
556 " 


456 

272 



108 THE WAR OF 1812 

capture of the President by the British in 1814 gave them an 
opportunity of comparing her with frigates of the class en- 
countered by her sister ships. These American frigates, in 
addition to their superior size, had timbers, planking and 
masts as stout as a British 74-gun ship. The Constitution, 
when she fought the Guerriere, carried thirty-two long 24- 
pounders and twenty-two short 32-pounders. Her broad- 
side weight of metal was seven hundred and thirty-six pounds. 
The Guerriere carried thirty long 18-pounders, two long 12- 
pounders, sixteen short 32-pounders and one long 18. The 
weight of her broadside was five hundred and fifty-six pounds. 
The comparative force of the ships was as follows: — 

Tonnage. 

Constitution 1,576 

Guerriere 1,338 

Yet Lossing, the author of a book on the War of 1812, in 
the face of these figures, has the assurance to say that the 
contest was ''not really an unequal one," and to add that 
the weight of the respective broadsides of the vessels ''could 
not have varied very materially." Mr. Roosevelt, the presi- 
dent of the United States, who has WTitten a tolerably honest 
account of the naval operations of the war, admits that the 
disparity of force was as ten to seven, that is to say that the 
American ship was superior by nearly one-half. The differ- 
ence was really much more, as any candid reader can perceive, 
the Constitution, when weight of metal, number of men, size 
and staunchness are taken into account, being doubly sup- 
erior to the Guerriere. The result might easily have been 
foreseen. After a stubborn battle which lasted a couple of 
hours, the British frigate was reduced to the condition of a 
defenceless hulk by being dismasted, and w^as compelled to 
surrender. She had lost seventy-nine men, of which twenty- 
three w^ere killed or mortally wounded. The Constitution 
lost seven killed and seven wounded. The Guerritre was in 
a sinking condition when she struck her flag, and had to be 
set on fire and destroyed. 



Weight of 
Broadside. 


Number of 
Men. 


846 lbs. 


478 


547 " 


301 



FAILURE OF DEARBORN'S CLAJVIPAIGN 109 

Tho two other frigate actions of the year, as regards the 
force of the combatants, resembled that between the Guerrihe 
and the Constitution. The second one in point of time was 
fought on the twenty-fifth of October in latitude 29° north 
and longitude 29° 30' west. The combatants were the Bri- 
tish frigate Macedonian and the American frigate United 
States. The comparative* force of these vessels was as follows: 

Tonnage. 

United States 1,576 

Macedonian 1,325 

Here the American vessel was superior by 59 per cent, 
in number of men, by 55 per cent, in weight of metal and 
by 19 per cent, in tonnage, so that the American frigate was 
really more than double the force of the Macedonian w^hen 
all the elements of strength are taken into account. After 
a contest which lasted an hour and a half the British vessel 
was obliged to strike her colours, after losing her mizzenmast, 
fore and main topmasts, and most of her rigging. She had 
forty-three of her crew killed and sixty-one w'ounded. The 
American ship lost six killed and five wounded. 

The third and last action of the war in which a British 
frigate w^as captured was fought between the Constitution and 
the Java on the twenty-ninth of December in latitude 13° 6' 
south and longitude 31° west. The Co)tstiiution liad made 
a slight change in her armament since her battle with the 
Guerriere by leaving on shore two of her 32-pounder car- 
ronades. The following is a comparative statement of the 
force of the combatants: — 

Tonnage. 

Constitution 1 ,576 

Java 1,340 

The Java carried a number of supernumeraries intended 
for other ships on the Bombay station, and her crew was a 
new one and wholly untrianed. The odds against her were 
about 70 per cent., apparently not quite so much as they 



Weight of 
Broadside. 


Number of 
Men. 


704 lbs. 


476 


576 " 


377 



no THE WAR OF 1812 

were against the Guerriere or Macedonian, but really more 
when the untrained condition of her crew is taken into ac- 
count. The Java was desperately defended and did not 
strike until she was a riddled and dismasted hulk. She lost 
in the two hours' engagement forty-eight killed and one hun- 
dred and two wounded, and was so badly damaged that she 
had to be destroyed. The Constitution had twelve killed 
and twenty-two wounded. 

In October the American 18-gun corvette Wasp captured 
the British 18-gun brig Frolic in latitude 37° north, longitude 
65° west. The American vessel carried two long 12-pounders 
and sixteen 32-pounder carronades. The Frolic had two 
long 6-pounders, sixteen 32-pounder carronades and a 12- 
pound boat carronade. The broadside weight of metal of 
the Wasp was therefore slightly superior, and she had a crew 
of one hundred and thirty-five men against one hundred and 
ten for the British vessel. The latter had lost her mainyard 
and sustained other damage in a gale, and therefore went into 
the action in a disabled condition. Nevertheless she was 
not surrendered until she had become totally unmanageable, 
and had lost ninety of her crew of whom thirty were killed 
outright. When the Americans boarded her the only un- 
wounded man who stood on deck was the grim old tar at the 
wheel. Captain Whinyates and his lieutenant, Wintle, were 
both so severely hurt that they could not stand without sup- 
port. The same day the British ship Poitiers, 74, recaptured 
both vessels. The Wasp had ten killed and wounded. Cer- 
tainly the British lost no glory in this affair which would 
probably have had a very different result had the Frolic 
been in a fit condition to meet an enemy. Mr. Roosevelt 
thinks the loss of the Frolic's mainyard was no detriment as 
it " merely converted her into a brigantine." On the 
same principle the loss of a ship's mizzenmast would not 
impair her efficiency, as it would merely convert her into a 
brig. Suggestions of this sort can well be left to the reader's 
contempt. 

This ends the story of the first year of the war in which 



112 THE WAR OF 1812 

the Americans, in their land operations, had reaped nothing 
but disasters and humiUations. Four different attempts 
had been made to invade Canada and all had failed. One 
large army from which much had been hoped had been 
forced to surrender; the efficient part of a second had been 
defeated and captured ; a third had been repelled after a very- 
brief encounter in which only its advance forces took part, 
and a fourth had been frightened away from the frontier 
without any conflict with the British at all. 



CHAPTER VIII 

OPERATIONS ON THE DETROIT FRONTIER 

The attempt of Hull on the Detroit frontier which had 
been so disastrously defeated by the promptitude and energy 
of Brock, was but a part of the movement against the western 
peninsula. The people of Kentucky and Indiana, as well 
as of Pennsylvania, were not behind those of Ohio in their 
eagerness to reap glory in an easily fought campaign. Ken- 
tucky alone before war was declared had five thousand five 
hundred militia and volunteers in the field, which were in- 
tended to cooperate with Hull in the conquest of Canada. 
This number was increased to seven thousand in October, 
1812, for Hull's surrender, while it was a humiliation to the 
people of the union generally, filled the inhabitants of the 
western states with terror. It caused the Indians to flock 
to the British standard, and gave the frontier settlers reason 
to fear that they would seek a bloody revenge for the injuries 
they had received from the white men. 

Before General Brock left Detroit he gave instructions 
to Colonel Procter to send Captain Muir with a detachment 
of regulars and Indians to reduce Fort Wayne, which at that 
time had a garrison of only seventy men. But this enterprise, 
which must have succeeded, was prevented by the receipt 
of orders from Sir George Prevost. The governor-general 
expressed his desire that, although the armistice did not 
extend to General Hull's command, it should be acted upon 
by Colonel Procter. That officer was also instructed to re- 
frain from every hostile act, and to restrain the Indians by 
every means in his power. After the armistice was ended, 
when Captain Muir advanced towards Fort Wayne, he found 



114 THE WAR OF 1812 

that that post had been heavily remforced and that General 
Winchester with two thousand men was in the vicinity. Un- 
der these circumstances any attack had necessarily to be 
abandoned. He returned to Fort Defiance, at the junction 
of the Miami and Au Glaize Rivers, intending to give battle 
there, but three-fourths of his Indians at this time deserted 
him, and he had to retreat twenty miles farther down the 
Miami. The Indians had become disgusted with the res- 
traint put upon them by the armistice, and they were alarmed 
by the reports of the mighty host that was coming against 
them from Kentucky and Ohio. For this state of affairs Sir 
George Prevost was directly responsible, for there was no 
reason why he should have insisted on his lieutenants on the 
Detroit frontier observing an armistice that was not regarded 
by the enemy. 

Governor Harrison of Indiana, ''the hero of Tippecanoe," 
was appointed commander-in-chief of all the Kentucky forces. 
He was also made a brigadier-general of the United States 
army, and assigned to the command of the north-western 
army, which, in addition to the rangers and troops in that 
quarter, consisted of the volunteers and militia of Kentucky 
and Ohio, and three thousand from Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
making his whole force ten thousand men. His instructions 
were to provide for the defence of the frontiers and to retake 
Detroit with a view to the conquest of Canada. These in- 
structions were received on the twenty-fourth of September, 
but all that could be accomplished during the next three 
months was the destruction of a few Indian towns that had 
been deserted by their inhabitants, and the burning of their 
winter supply of provisions. This was the method the gov- 
ernment of the United States took to conciliate the Indians, 
and when the unfortunate red men retaliated after their own 
fashion, the American people were amazed and horrified. 
They did not seem to appreciate the fact that to turn an 
Indian family out of their hut at the beginning of winter, 
and to destroy the food they had stored up for that inclement 
season is equivalent to a sentence of death. It would have 



OPERATIONS ON THE DETROIT FRONTIER 115 

been more merciful to kill these poor i)e()i)le outi-iiiht than 
to leave them to perish of hunger and cold. 

Towards the end of December Harrison had about seven 
thousand infantry and a body of cavalry and artillery under 
his connnand in the Xorth-West. He had his headquarters 
at Sandusky where lie had collected an abundance of ammu- 
nition, stores and provisions for the invasion of Canada at 
Maiden. General Winchester, who commanded the left wing 
of the army, was on the Miami about six miles below the 
Au Glaize when he received a despatch from Harrison order- 
ing him to press forward to the rapids of the Miami. He 
was directed to connn(nice building huts so that the British 
might be (U^ceived into the belief that he intended to winter 
there; but at the same time he was to i)re])are sleds for an 
advance towards Maiden, but to conceal from his troops 
their intended use. Winchester was also informed that the 
different wings of the army would be concentrated at the 
rapids, and would proceed from there against Maiden as 
soon as the ice was strong enough to bear them. Win- 
chester had his entire army established at the rapids on 
January 10th, 1813. A day after this he received a mes- 
sage from Frenchtown on the Raisin River asking him to 
send a force there as the inhabitants feared an attack by 
the Indians. He called a council of officers who decided 
that troops should be sent to Frenchtown, and Colonel Lewis 
with hve. hundred and fifty regulars and Kentucky v(^lunteers 
was entrusted with this duty. Lewis started for French- 
town, which was thirty-five miles distant, on the morning 
of the seventeenth of Januar}^ and he had not been gone 
many hours when a reinforcement of one hundred and ten 
men under Colonel Allen was sent after him. Lewis had 
instructions to attack and beat "the enemy," and to seize 
Frenchtown and hold it. 

Frenchtown, which contained at that time one hundred 
and fifty inhabitants, was held by thirty men of the Essex 
militia under Major Reynolds. They had with them a 3- 
pounder and were accompanied by a band of two hundred 



116 THE WAR OF 1812 

Indians. This force was encountered by Colonel Lewis at 
three o'clock on the afternoon of the eighteenth and attacked. 
The American accounts of this affair are very absurd, for 
they magnify the little force of Canadian militia nearly ten- 
fold, and give detailed accounts of desperate charges and 
counter charges which never took place. The truth was 
that Major Reynolds, after resisting the enemy as long as 
he could, and inflicting as much damage upon them as pos- 
sible, retired to Brownstown, eighteen miles from the scene 
of action. He had one militiaman and three Indians killed; 
the Americans by their own account had twelve killed and 
fifty-five wounded. 

Colonel Lewis encamped at Frenchtown and sent to Win- 
chester for reinforcements. The news of his affair with Major 
Reynolds' detachment, which was magnified into a great vic- 
tory, made Winchester's Kentucky soldiers fairly wild with 
excitement. To quote an American writer- "All were eager 
to press northward, not doubting that the victory at the Raisin 
was the harbinger of continued success until Detroit and Mai- 
den should be in possession of the Americans." Winchester, 
who was not well pleased at Harrison being placed over him, 
was anxious to bring on an engagement before his superior 
could reach him. He hastened to Frenchtown with a rein- 
forcement which brought up the strength of the army there 
to one thousand men, and encamped on the right of Lewis's 
forces on the evening of the twentieth of January. 

The moment Colonel Procter heard of the occupation of 
Frenchtown by the Americans, he set out from Maiden with 
all his available force. This, when joined to the detachment 
at Brownstown, comprised about five hundred white troops 
and four hundred and fifty Indians. The former consisted of 
one hundred and forty rank and file of the 41st, forty of the 
Royal Newfoundland Regiment, a few men of the 10th Royal 
Veteran Battalion, enough artillery to serve three 3-pounders 
and a 5^-inch howitzer, a number of Canadian sailors, and 
parts of the 1st and 2nd Essex militia. 

This was the army which General Winchester in his report 



OPERATIONS ON THE DETROIT FRONTIER 117 

calls "greatly superior in numbers." Between four and five 
o'clock on the morning of the twenty-second of January, Proc- 
ter attacked the American camp. The weather was severe, so 
no pickets were posted far in advance on the roads, and 
Procter's sudden assault was almost a surprise. The Ameri- 
can right was fiercely assailed and driven in until the troops in 
that part of the field gave way entirely, and fled to the further 
side of the Raisin River, where they sought the shelter of the 
woods. But there was no safety for them there, for the In- 
dians, who had gained their flank and rear, cut them down. 
The slaughter was great, for th(^ red men who had seen their 
houses and provisions destroyed by Winchester's men, could 
hardly be restrained. Gen(>ral Winchester who was with this 
section of the army, was taken prisoner, as was Colonel Lewis 
who led the advance on Frenchtown. The left and centre of 
the American army were posted in a picketed camp which 
afforded a strong defensive position. This was attacked by 
the British regulars, but the Americans, who dreaded 
the vengeance of the Indians, defended themselves with the 
courage of despair. Colonel Procter, anxious to stay the 
further effusion of blood, told General Winchester, to quote 
the language of the latter in his official report, " that he would 
afford them an oi)portunity of surrendering as prisoners of 
war." The American general accepted this offer and sent a 
flag to his beleagured men ordering them to surrender, which 
they did. It was impossible for them to escape, and had 
their resistance been prolonged it would have been difficult 
to protect them from the Indians. 

In this affair the British loss was very heavy, amounting to 
twenty-four killed and one hundred and fifty-eight wounded, 
a full third of the number of white troops engaged. Of this 
loss thirty-fight were of the Canadian militia and sailors. Of 
the small detachment of the 41st present, fifteen were killed 
and ninety-seven wounded, and the losses of the few men 
of the Newfoundland Regiment engaged were equally severe, 
amounting to eighteen killed or wounded. Ten British and 
Canadian officers were wounded, one of them, Ensign Kerr 



118 



THE WAR OF 1812 



of the Newfoundland Regiment, mortally. The American 
army was annihilated, and of the whole force of about one 
thousand, only thirty-three escaped. The killed and missing 






..'''"'"'^ 



'V,^ 

^'" 



c^ 



^ BRITISH 



^'' 



'.JO '\%' 



,'!■'' ' fioiLOw'AND ORCikARD ,, ri ' I' '/; 

■■ ■.„;.^i,5.,-.i)i. .,.M.i||,'.^^,^..,v-i .-■■■I ,,. ,v..,,. i\ii.,^o.^-?iw«>ii..., ,,^. ., „|, 



I AMERICANS 



it., ft. 



n. 




The Battle of Fremchtown 

Frenchtown, in what is now the state of Michigan, was a small village containing 
one hundred and fifty people. The British garrison of thirty-six regulars was driven 
out of the village-on January 18th, 1813. Hearing of this. Colonel Procter marched 
from Maiden to recapture it. He attacked the United States camp on the twenty- 
second, and inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy under General Winchester. 



numbered three hundred and ninety-seven, the wounded 
twenty-five, and the prisoners, wounded and unwounded, 
five hundred and thirty-six. The total loss was therefore 
nine hundred and fifty-eight. These figures are from Ameri- 
can authority and are, no doubt, correct. The force thus 
destroyed comprised the greater part of Colonel Wells's 17th 
United States Regiment of infantry, the 1st and 5th Regi- 



OPERATIONS OX THE DETROIT FRONTIER 119 

ments of Kentucky infantry, and Colonel Allen's Kentucky 
Rifie Regiment. The day of the Raisin was a dark and 
bloody da}^ for Kentucky, and hundreds of its homes were 
in mourning, for many a youth who went from his father's 
house with a light heart in search of glory was buried in 
an unknown grave. 

Colonel Procter had now fewer white troops left than the 
number of his prisoners, and there were rumours that General 
Harrison was aj^proacliing with the other wing of the army of 
the North-West. For these reasons, and also because he 
wished to put his captives in a place of safety, he set out on his 
return to Maiden on the da}^ of the battle, taking all the pri- 
soners with him that could be moved, and also the main body 
of Indians. A few wounded prisoners had to be left behind 
until a conveyance could be sent for them. They were placed 
in charge of Major Reynolds and the interpreters of the 
Indian department, and two of their own surgeons were left 
with them. On the following day a report that was current 
of the approach of Harrison caused some of the guards to 
desert the wounded prisoners, and a few of the latter were 
killed by straggling Indians who were looking for some 
person to be revenged upon for the destruction of their 
homes. This unfortunate affair, for which Procter was cer- 
tainly not to blame, has given unscrui)ul()us authors like 
Lossing an opportunity of writing violent tirades against 
the British and the people of Canada. According to these 
writers the deaths of the men thus slain were deliberately 
planned by Procter, who by the same authority, is de- 
nounced as a coward. There was certainly nothing of the 
latter shown in his prompt attack on the superior army of 
Winchester, but that, perhaps, is as good a name as any 
to throw at a British officer whom some Americans can 
never forgive because he defeated them, cutting to pieces or 
capturing their entire army, and adding another to the list 
of British triumphs. 

Among those who lost their lives was Captain Hart, a Ken- 
tucky volunteer officer whose wife was the sister of Henry 



120 THE WAR OF 1812 

Clay. This fact, no doubt, had a good deal to do with the 
violence of the American press in dealing with the French- 
town affair. Captain Hart was in a place of safety at the 
house of a Frenchman in charge of a friendly Potta- 
watomie chief. There he might have remained without 
molestation, but he became so much alarmed that he offered 
the chief one hundred dollars to convey him to Maiden. 
Hart was placed on a horse and was passing through a vil- 
lage when a Wyandot Indian came out and claimed Hart as 
his prisoner. The Pottawatomie attempted to defend Hart 
but was overpowered and the American was shot and scalped. 
As Henry Clay was so powerful and eager an advocate of 
the war that he may be fairly regarded as its author, it is 
somewhat remarkable that his own brother-in-law should 
have been one of its first victims. 

It is perhaps unfortunate that the Indians cannot be 
taught to appreciate the beauties of the rules of civilized 
warfare, but, being children of nature, they think the right 
way to deal with an enemy is to kill him and be done with 
him for good and all. Yet in their dealings with the Ameri- 
cans in the War of 1812, they were far more merciful than 
the latter were to them. They took prisoners and spared 
the lives of the wounded, although the Americans never took 
any Indian prisoners, but killed and scalped all who fell into 
their hands. The spirit of the Americans towards the 
Indians is shown by Hull's proclamation in which he said: 
"No white man fighting by the side of an Indian will 
be taken prisoner — instant destruction will be his lot." It 
is shown also by General Smyth's address to the "Army of 
the Centre," in which he informed his soldiers that he would 
order "forty dollars to be paid for the arms and spoils of 
each savage warrior — who shall be killed." This was simply 
rewarding his men for giving no quarter to the Indians, 
and the latter doubtless thought that it was proper to recip- 
rocate in kind. That they did not do so, but spared Ameri- 
can wounded and prisoners, was due to the influence of the 
British commanders whose only reward for their leniency has 



OPERATIONS ON THE DETROIT FRONTIER 121 

been the abuse of many writers from the time of the war 
down to the present day. Instead of assaihng Procter, Ameri- 
can writers should honour his memory, as but for him, not 
one of the Kentuckians who were defeated at the Raisin 
would have escaped; the Indians were bent on their de- 
struction. 

The defeat of Winchester completely deranged Harrison's 
plans of invasion and put an end to further offensive move- 
ments until more troops could be brought into the field. The 
American general retired to the rapids of the Miami, where, 
on the high ground on the right bank of the river, he estab- 
lished a fortified camp, which, in honour of the governor of 
Ohio, was named Fort Meigs. Before spring it had become a 
regular fortification, covering about eight acres of ground and 
mounting eighteen guns, chiefly 18 and 12-pounders. From 
this point Harrison was able to keep open communication with 
Ohio and Kentucky and to operate against Detroit and Maiden. 

As Procter had information that Harrison was to be heavily 
reinforced in the spring with a view to invading Canada, he 
deemed it advisable to attack Fort Meigs before the American 
force had become too powerful. Accordingly on April 23rd, 
1813, he embarked at Amhcrstburg with four hundred and 
sixty-one rank and file of the regular troops, comprising 
twenty-seven of the Royal Artillery, five of the 10th Veteran 
Battalion, three hundred and seventy-four of the 41st Regi- 
ment, fifty-five of the Newfoundland Regiment and four hun- 
dred and six rank and file of the militia. The whole number 
of white troops, including staff and other officers, was nine 
hundred and eighty-three, and they were accompanied by 
one thousand two hundred Indians under Tecumseh. Fort 
Meigs had at this time a garrison of one thousand three 
hundred men, consisting of two regiments of regulars be- 
sides volunteers from Kentucky and Ohio. They were 
under the command of General Harrison, and reinforcements 
were daily expected from Kentucky under General Green 
Clay, which would make Harrison's army far stronger than 
that of Procter, Indians included. 



122 THE WAR OF 1812 

Procter, who had been made a brigadier-general for his 
Frenchtown victory, reached the vicinity of Fort Meigs with 
his httle army on the twenty-eighth of April, and batteries 
were at once commenced on the opposite side of the river. 
Rain delayed the work, but on the first of May two 24- 
pounders, three 12-pounders, an 8-inch howitzer and two 5^- 
inch mortars were mounted and opened fire on the fort. Very 
little damage was done, however, as a traverse had been 
erected by the besieged which protected its front. On the 
following day another battery of three 12-pounders opened on 
the fort. The same night a detachment of British crossed the 
river and mounted two 6-pounders and a S^-inch mortar on 
the south side of the Miami behind Fort Meigs. That place 
had been so completely protected by traverses of earth that 
the fire of the batteries produced but little effect, the guns, 
with the exception of the 24-pounders -not being heavy 
enough to make much impression on earthworks. 

On the evening of the third, General Clay was at the head of 
the rapids of the Miami with a reinforcement of one thou- 
sand three hundred men from Kentucky, who were embarked 
in eighteen large scows with shields on their sides to protect 
them against the bullets of the Indians. Harrison received 
the news of Clay's approach on the evening of the fourth 
and at once sent out one of his officers, Captain Hamilton, 
in a canoe to meet Clay and direct him as to the plan of 
operations he was to adopt. Clay was to land eight hun- 
dred of his men on the north side of the river at a point 
a mile and a half above the British batteries opposite Fort 
Meigs. These batteries were to be taken, the cannon spiked 
and the carriages destroyed, and then the troops were to 
return to their boats and cross to Fort Meigs. The rest 
of Clay's command was to land on the south side of the 
Miami and march directly to the fort. Harrison then in- 
tended to make a sortie, destroy the British batteries in the 
rear of the fort and disperse or capture all the British on 
the south side of the river. The American general was very 
sanguine of the success of this fine plan, and, as he had been 



OPERATIONS ON THE DETROIT FRONTIER 123 

stimulating the courage of his troops with a scries of stirring 
addresses, it was to be presumed that they would not fail him. 
In one of these addresses he said to them: "Should we en- 
counter the enemy, remember the fate of your butchered 
brothers at the river Raisin — that British treachery produced 
that slaughter." This sounded very much like an invita- 
tion to grant the British no quarter. In another Napoleonic 
general order he said: "Can the citizens of a free country 
who have taken arms to defend its rights, think of submit- 
ting to an army composed of mercenary soldiers, reluctant 
Canadians goaded to the field by the bayonet, and of 
wretched naked savages?" This general should have known 
that the only troops who during the war had to be 
"goaded to the field by the bayonet," were the American 
regulars and militia, as witness the orders of Colonel Miller 
before the battle of Maguaga, of Colonel Van Rensselaer at 
Queenston, and of General Wilkinson at La Collo. 

On the morning of the fifth of May General Clay's army 
reached the vicinity of the fort, and Colonel Dudley with 
eight hundred and sixty-six men landed on the north side of 
the Miami at a place pointed out by Captain Hamilton. 
They ascended to the plain unobserved by the British and 
marched straight to the batteries which were manned by only 
a few gunners. Dudley's men got behind the guns and cap- 
tured and spiked them without any loss, the main body of the 
British being at the camp a mile and a half down the river. 
Dudley now left the larger part of his force under Major Shelby 
in the captured batteries, and with the remainder advanced 
against a body of Indians in the rear of the fort who had at- 
tacked some of his riflemen. Shelby was soon assailed by two 
companies of the 41st and a company of militia, the whole 
numbering less than two hundred rank and file. This gallant 
little force, which was led by Captain Muir of the 41st, speedily 
recaptured the batteries, driving the American troops before 
them and making most of them prisoners. Harrison's Ken- 
tucky heroes, "citizens of a free country," were not able to 
stand for an instant before Muir's "mercenarv soldiers and 



124 THE WAR OF 1812 

reluctant Canadians." Dudley was not more fortunate than 
Shelby had been; he was drawn into an ambuscade by the 
Indians, and the whole of his command cut to pieces. Dud- 
ley himself was killed, and of the eight hundred and sixty- 
six men who had landed with him only one hundred and 
fifty escaped. 

The remainder of Clay's force, consisting of about four hun- 
dred and fifty men, landed on the south side of the river and 
reached the fort after a sharp skirmish with the Indians. 
General Harrison ordered a sortie to be made by three hun- 
dred and fifty men, nearly all regulars, under Colonel John 
Miller of the 19th U. S. Regiment. These fell upon one 
of the British batteries, which was defended by the two 
flank companies of the 41st Regiment, numbering one hun- 
dred and thirty rank and file, under Captain Bullock. 
The small British force was defeated, the battery captured, 
and the gun, a 6-pounder, spiked, forty men of the 41st, 
including two lieutenants and a sergeant being made prison- 
ers. Colonel Miller did not enjoy his triumph long. At 
this moment two companies of militia, numbering one hun- 
dred and thirty rank and file, advanced with three hun- 
dred Indians. These with the help of the remnant of the 
41st instantly recaptured the cannon and drove the Ameri- 
cans back into Fort Meigs with the loss, according to their 
own official reports, of twenty-eight killed and twenty-five 
wounded. 

The total loss of the British and Canadians in this affair was 
fourteen killed, forty-seven wounded and forty made prison- 
ers. Captain Bandy of the militia was mortally wounded 
and died on the day of the battle. The Americans acknow- 
ledged a loss of eighty-one killed, two hundred and seventy 
wounded, and four hundred and eighty-five of them were 
made prisoners, making a total loss of eight hundred and 
thirty-six. Of this number six hundred and ninety-six were 
lost under Dudley on the north side of the river, eighty-seven 
in Clay's advance to the fort on the south side of the Miami, 
and fifty-three in the sortie. Of General Clay's reinforcement 



OPERATIONS ON THE DETROIT FRONTIER 125 

of one thousand three hunch'ed men, only about five hundred 
got into Fort Meigs, yet even this Hniited accession of strength 
gave Harrison a total of more than one thousand seven 
hundred men, or more than double the number of Procter's 
white troops. This fact, and other circumstances over which 
he had no control, made it necessary for General Procter to 
raise the siege of Fort Meigs. The militia wanted to go home 
to put in their crops, and the Indian chiefs sent him a deputa- 
tion counselling him to return, as they could not prevent their 
people, as was their custom after a battle, returning to their 
villages with their wounded and their ])lun(ler, of which they 
had taken a considerable quantity from the boats of the 
enemy. ''Before the ordnance could be drawn from the 
batteries," says Procter in his despatch, "I was left with 
Tecumseh and less than twenty chiefs and warriors; a circum- 
stance which strongly proves that, under present circum- 
stances at least, an Indian force is not a disposable one or 
permanent, though occasionally a most powerful aid." Proc- 
ter was destined to experience the truth of this observation 
still more forcibly at a later period. 

The British general withdrew his force from Fort Meigs on 
the ninth of May taking with him all his cannon and stores 
of every kind, and leaving absolutely nothing behind. Los- 
sing attempts to convey a false impression to the minds of 
his readers by saying that " Procter attempted to bear away 
from his batteries his unharmed cannon, but a few shots from 
Fort Meigs made him withdraw speedily." Here, without 
absolutely stating it and telling a direct falsehood, Lossing 
leads the reader to believe that Procter's cannon were left 
behind, the truth being as that general states in his despatch: 
"I have, however, brought off all my ordnance; and indeed 
have not left anything behind. Part of the ordnance was 
embarked under the fir{> of the enemy." The American 
general had not the courage to interfere with Procter's de- 
parture, except by an ineffectual fire from his cannon. The 
British retorted in kind, and the last shot they fired from one 
of their vessels killed half a dozen of the soldiers in the fort ; 



126 THE WAR OF 1812 

with this emphatic farewell they sailed away. Procter had 
failed to capture Fort Meigs; but he had so demoralized the 
enemy that they were effectually prevented from engaging in 
a spring campaign against Detroit. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE CAPTURE OF YORK 



Having brought tlie story of the operations on the Detroit 
frontier down to the early summer of 1813, it now becomes 
necessary to go back to the beginning of the year for the pur- 
pose of relating the occurrences in other parts of the Canadian 
provinces. The disasters which had befallen their armies 
in 1812 were very grievous to the people of the United 
States, and damaging to the prestige of their public men. 
Dr. Eustis, the secrctar}- of war, was forced to resign to ap- 
pease the popular wrath, and was succeeded by John Arm- 
strong, who had been minister to France under President 
Jefferson, and was a])pointed a brigadier-general at the be- 
ginning of the war. Armstrong divided the country into 
nine military districts, to each of which a general officer of 
the United States army was assigned, whose duty it was to 
superintend all the means of defence within his district. 
This was done to prevent any difficulty arising from the inter- 
ference of governors of states that were opposed to the war. 
The failure of the attack on Canada had made the peace 
party in New England stronger and bolder. Josiah Quincy, 
whose honesty and patriotism no man could doubt, gave his 
countrymen his views on the war in a highly exasperating 
fashion on the floors of Congress. Hildreth saj^s : — "He de- 
nounccnl the invasion of Canada as a cruel, wanton, senseless 
and wicked attack, in which neither ])hmder nor glory was 
to be gained, upon an unoffending peopl(\ l)ound to us by 
ties of blood and good neighbourhood; undertaken for the 
punishment over their shoulders of another ])eople three 
thousand miles off, by young politicians fluttering and cack- 



128 THE WAR OF 1812 

ling on the floor of that House, half hatched, the shell still on 
their heads and their pin-feathers not yet shed — politicians to 
whom reason, justice, pity, were nothing, revenge everything." 
Speeches of this kind, however, only made the war party more 
resolute to conquer Canada. Acts were passed to increase the 
regular army to fifty-six thousand men, all of whom were to 
be employed in the invasion of Canada. Williams of South 
Carolina, the chairman of the military committee, voiced the 
plans and hopes of his belligerent countrymen when he said : — 
''The St. Lawrence must be crossed by a well appointed army 
of twenty thousand men, supported by a reserve of ten thou- 
sand. At the same moment we move on Canada a corps of 
ten thousand must threaten Halifax from the province of 
Maine. The honour and character of the nation require that 
the British power on our borders should be annihilated in the 
next campaign." 

The news, which reached Washington in March, of the ter- 
rible disasters that had befallen their ally Napoleon in the 
Russian campaign, in which he lost about four hundred and 
fifty thousand men, was very disheartening to the American 
war party. All their hopes of sharing with this Corsican rob- 
ber in the partition of the British empire suddenly vanished 
in smoke, and although the United States might continue 
to play the part of a jackal to Bonaparte, they could now 
expect very little from him but kicks and contempt. Bona- 
parte indeed despised his American flatterers as much 
as he hated republican institutions, and he omitted no 
opportunity of making them sensible of this fact. Yet the 
French emperor, although his power was declining, was still 
formidable and all the energies of Great Britain were expended 
in efforts to complete his downfall. The war in the Spanish 
peninsula, where Wellington was engaged in preparing for 
that glorious campaign which ended in the French armies 
being driven out of Spain, absorbed nearly all the soldiers that 
Britain could spare, and therefore the reinforcements which 
reached Canada in the year 1813 were very inadequate. The 
first that came was, however, doubly welcome, as much by 



THE CAPTURE OF YORK 



129 



reason of its origin as of the spirit that animatcjd it. The 
King's New Brunswick Regiment, the 104th, in March tra- 
versed the wilderness from Fredericton to Quebec and was 
afterwards sent to Kingston for the reinforcement of Upper 
Canada. This regiment made the fifth provincial corps of 




8ii< Jamks J.. Vko 

He arrived in Canada in May, 1813, with a number of officers of the Royal Navy 
and four hundred and fifty seamen. 



regulars employed in the defence of Canada, the others being 
the Glengarries, the voltigeurs, the Canadian Fenciblos and the 
Newfoundland Regiment. The other regular regiments in 



130 THE WAR OF 1812 

Canada at this time were a battalion of the 1st and 8th Regi- 
ments, the 41st, 49th, 100th and 103rd — or six British regular 
regiments to five colonial corps. The 104th Regiment, when 
it arrived, was up to its full strength of one thousand men and 
the Canadian regiments were filled up by recruits during the 
winter. In May, Sir James L. Yeo arrived from England 
with a number of officers of the Royal Navy and four hun- 
dred and fifty seamen for service on the lakes. Part of the 
19th Dragoons and four hundred men of the 41st Regiment 
also arrived at Quebec in May. The 13th Regiment, the 89th. 
and the De Watteville Regiment, the latter a foreign corps 
recruited on the continent of Europe, completed the reinforce- 
ments of the year, but neither of the three last named arrived 
in time to take part in the earlier operations of the campaign. 
From these facts the real weakness of the British force in 
Canada will be understood. In the spring of 1813, it is doubt- 
ful if there were as many as seven thousand regular troops in 
Canada, which was menaced with an invasion by three 
separate armies of Americans who had more than fifty thou- 
sand regular soldiers, and an unlimited number of militia at 
their disposal. 

The Americans by means of their spies were kept fully 
informed of the weakness of the British garrisons in Canada, 
and this fact induced War Secretary Armstrong to propound a 
plan of operations with a view to the reduction of the whole of 
Upper Canada between Prescott on the St. Lawrence and Lake 
Erie, including all the intermediate posts. "On this line of 
frontier," he wrote, '' the enemy have, at Prescott three hun- 
dred, at Kingston six hundred, at George and Erie twelve 
hundred, making a total of regular troops of two thousand 
one hundred. Kingston and Prescott and the destruction of 
the British ships at the former would present the first object; 
York and the frigates said to be building there the second; 
George and Erie the third. The force to be employed in this 
service should not be less than six thousand, because in this 
first enterprise of a second campaign, nothing must, if pos- 
sible, be left to chance." Here we have the American plan 



THE CAPTURE OF YORK 131 

of invasion fully disclosed and the strength of the British 
forces accurately stated. 

General Dearborn, who had the army of the north under his 
immediate command, had a force of upwards of six thousand 
regulars at the beginning of the year 1813. Early in Feb- 
ruary orders were given for the concentration of four thousand 
regulars at Sacketts Harbour and three thousand at Buffalo. 
The Sacketts Harbour army was to cross the ice to Kingston, 
capture that place, destroy all the shipping there and then 
proceed to York and seize the army stores and vessels. This 
promising scheme was never carried out or even attempted, 
mainly, it would seem, because of an absurd rumour which 
was current that Sir George Prevost was at Kingston with 
six or eight thousand men, preparing for an attack on the 
American frontier. 

Instead of an attack on Kingston by the American army, 
the Canadians were treated to a raid on Brockville by Major 
Forsyth, some of whose exploits have already been related. 
Forsyth was stationed at Ogdensburg, the people of which 
were so intensely patriotic that it had become a sort of focus 
for the gathering of raiding parties against Canada. On the 
night of the sixth of February he left that place with two 
hundred riflemen and volunteers, and a number of citizens to 
attack Brockville. As Brockville was without defences or 
garrison, there was no difficulty in capturing the little village. 
This heroic American party broke open the jail and liberated 
the prisoners. They dragged all the adult male inhabitants, 
fifty-two in number, out of their beds and marched them back 
to Ogdensburg as prisoners. They also carried away with 
them one hundred and twenty muskets that they found 
packed in cases, twenty rifles and two kegs of fixed am- 
munition. They did not omit to rob the people of Brockville 
of their horses, cattle, pigs and poultry as well as of any 
movables they found in their houses. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Pierson, who commanded at Prescott, 
on the nineteenth of February sent Lieutenant-Colonel G. 
Macdonell, of the Glengarries, with a flag of truce to Ogdens- 



132 THE WAR OF 1812 

burg to protest against such raids as the one above de- 
scribed. This officer, however, received nothing but inso- 
lence from the Americans, so it was resolved to clear out 
this nest of robbers. A day or two later. Sir George Pre- 
vost arrived at Prescott on his way to Kingston. Colonel 
Macdonell, who had succeeded to the command at Prescott, 
informed him of the recent outrages on the frontier and asked 
permission to attack Ogdensburg, which the commander-in- 
chief refused to grant. Colonel Macdonell then represented 
to Sir George the danger he would be in of being cut off 
by the enemy, unless a force was sent ahead to occupy the 
roads, and this Sir George graciously permitted him to do. 
He very reluctantly agreed to allow Macdonell to make a 
demonstration on the ice before Ogdensburg, in order to 
discover if the American troops had left it, but any real 
attack was absolutely forbidden. Lest there should be any 
doubt of the nature of his instructions, Sir George for- 
warded a letter from Flint's Inn, nine miles from Prescott, 
to Colonel Macdonell, which the latter received in the heat 
of the battle, repeating his orders not to make any attack. 
Mr. James, whose books on the military and naval occur- 
rences of the war cannot be too highly estimated, states 
that he saw this letter before he wrote his history. Sir 
George's reason for not permitting an attack was that he 
did not wish to keep alive a spirit of hostility. The Cana- 
dian readers will understand from this the kind of odds 
their fathers had to contend against in the defence of their 
country. Not only had they to resist an active and un- 
scrupulous enemy, but they had to do so in spite of the 
opposition of an imbecile commander-in-chief who did not 
wish to offend the Americans who were engaged in the 
work of plundering on every convenient occasion. 

Fortunately for the people of the St. Lawrence frontier, 
Colonel Macdonell resolved to turn the demonstration into a 
real attack. As soon as Sir George Prevost had fairly turned 
his back on Prescott on the morning of the twenty-second of 
February, Macdonell began to make his preparations. 



THE CAPTUKl-: OF YORK 133 

Forsyth who conmiandcd at Ogdonsbiirg had been infoi'iiied 
by deserters, of the mecUtated attack, and had plenty of 
time to take such measures as were considered necessary to 
resist it. He had ei^lit cannon mounted, six 6-pounders, a 
9-pounder and a 12-i)ounder. Five of tliese were on tlie west 
side of the Oswegatchic Hivci' and llic otiici- tln-ee in the 
village on the east side. American histories are very reticent 
as to the number of men they had at Ogdensburg, l)ut as 
l-'orsyth's riflemen were all there, besides a coinpany of 
volunteei'S and a body of militia, their force cnnnol be esti- 
mated at less than five hundred. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell's detachment with which he 
V(>ntured to assail Ogtlensburg numbered four hundred and 
eighty, and consisted of two hundred and ten regulars and 
two hundred and seventy militia. It was (hvided into two 
columns: the right conunanded by Captain Jenkins of the 
(Ilengarry Regiment with his own Hank company of that excel- 
lent corps, and seventy militia ; I he left under the command of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell himself with one hundred and 
twenty of the Sth R(>ginient, forty of the Newfoundland Regi- 
ment and two hundred mililia. With this colunni were three 
guns, a ()-p()under and two ^^-i)ounders, manned by eleven 
artillerymen. This force a])peared about seven o'clock in 
the morning on the ice which then covered the St. Lawrence, 
and advanced resolutel}' towards Ogdensburg. Forsyth had 
expressed a great desire to meet Macdonell on the ice on the 
day that the latter went to Ogdensburg with the flag of truce, 
but when the opportunity came he showed no inclination to 
carry out his part of the contract, but remained behind the 
shelter of liis batteries. As the river at this i)()int is a mile 
and a half in width the Americans had a splendid oppor- 
tunity of decimating the British force with their cannon, 
and they availed themselves of it to the fullest extent. As 
they bravely marched across the river, both columns, but 
especially the right, suffered severely from the enemy's fire. 

The duty of the right column, which was directed against 
the old fort in which Forsyth and his riflemen were stationed, 



134 THE WAR OF 1812 

was to check the enemy's left and intercept his retreat, while 
the left column advanced and captured the town. Captain 
Jenkins's column was exposed to a heavy fire from five guns 
which he attempted to take with the bayonet, although 
covered by two hundred of the enemy's best troops, but the 
deep snow on the American side of the river greatly impeded 
his movements. Advancing as rapidly as the exhausted state 
of his men would admit, he ordered a charge but had not pro- 
ceeded many paces when his left arm was shattered by a 
grape shot; but undauntedly running on with his men, he 
almost immediately afterwards was deprived of the use of his 
right arm by a discharge of case shot. Still heroically dis- 
regarding the terrible pain which he suffered, he nobly ran on 
cheering his men to the assault until he fell exhausted by loss 
of blood. His company gallantly continued the charge under 
Lieutenant McAuley, but the reserve of militia not being able 
to keep up with them, they were compelled, by the great 
superiority in numbers and the fire of the enemy, to retire. 

The left column had, in the meantime, fully accomplished 
its assigned task. Pushing on rapidly it gained the bank of 
the river, under the direct fire of the enemy's artillery and 
musketry which were posted on an eminence near the shore. 
The advance consisting of the forty men of the Newfoundland 
Regiment and some selected militia under Lieutenant Ridge 
of the 8th went directly at the enemy, while Colonel Macdonell 
turned his right with the one hundred and twenty men of the 
8th Regiment, and, after a few discharges of the artillery, took 
them with the bayonet and drove the Americans through the 
town, the majority escaping to the w^oods. Some fled across 
the Oswegatchie River to the fort, and others took shelter in 
the houses from which they kept up such a galling fire that it 
was necessary to dislodge them with the British fieldpieces 
which had been left stuck in the deep snow on landing, but 
were now brought up from the bank of the river. Having 
gained the high ground on the brink of the Oswegatchie, oppo- 
site the fort, Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell prepared to carry 
it by storm, but, to give his men time to recover their breath 



THE CAPTURE OF YORK 135 

after their exhausting toil, he sent in a summons to Forsyth 
requiring the unconditional surrender of the fort. As there 
was some hesitation about doing this, Macdonell instantly 
carried the enemy's eastern battery and by it silenced another. 
He then ordered to the front the detachment of the 8th Regi- 
ment and the Highland company of militia under Captain 
Eustace, and they gallantly rushed into the fort. The enemy 
did not await the shock of an encounter, but escaped by the 
opposite entrance and fled to the woods. Forsyth and his 
men, the heroes of the Brockville raid, never stopped running 
until they had put nine English miles of ground between 
themselves and the British. 

There was not an enterprise undertaken during the war that 
reflected more credit on the troops engaged in it than the 
capture of Ogdensburg. Here was no mitlnight raid, but a 
bold assault in the open day upon a defiant enemy strongly 
posted and with every chance in his favour. Colonel Mac- 
donell truly said that in this affair "the officers and men 
of the militia emulated the conspicuous bravery of the 
troops of the line." He might have added that nearly half 
of the regulars engaged were Canadians or colonists. These 
were the men of the Glengarry and Newfoundland Regi- 
ments, who were not excelled in bravery or discipline by any 
corps that fought in Canada during the war. The British 
loss at Ogdensburg amounted to eight killed and fifty-two 
wounded, of which twenty-five fell on the militia and sixteen 
on the company of the Glengarry Regiment under Captain 
Jenkins. This gallant officer, who was a native of New 
Brunswick and the son of a Loyalist, lost one of his arms, 
and, to a large extent, the use of the other, yet at the end 
of the war he had not been promoted to a higher rank 
Brave men were plentiful in the British arm3^ Forsyth 
for his hen-stealing raid on Brockville, where no opposition 
was encountered, and no risk run, was made a lieutenant- 
colonel, which goes to show that an American colonel during 
the War of 1812 was about the cheapest article of manufac- 
ture extant. 



136 THE WAR OF 1812 

The Americans lost in the Ogclensburg affair five killed and 
fifteen wounded, and seventy-four of them, including four 
officers, were taken prisoners. Twelve pieces of artillery 
were captured, three of them of brass. Of the iron pieces, 
two, a 12-pounder and a 6-pounder, had been taken at Bur- 
goyne's surrender. The other spoils were one thousand four 
hundred stand of arms with accoutrements, two stand of 
colours, three hundred tents, a large quantity of ammunition 
and camp equipage, with beef, flour, pork and other stores. 
All this public property was carried over to Prescott. Two 
armed schooners and two large gunboats that were fast in 
the ice were burnt and the same fate befell the two barracks. 
During the war there were no more raids from Odgensburg 
against defenceless Canadian villages, nor was any attempt 
made to fortify it. Indeed this could hardly have been done, 
for the place was now commanded by Fort Wellington on the 
Prescott side, which had been garnished by the guns taken by 
the brave and enterprising Macdonell. 

Although Secretary Armstrong's plan for the capture of 
Kingston had not been carried out, the designs of the enemy 
against western Canada were not abandoned. By the middle 
of April, General Dearborn had at Sacketts Harbour five 
thousand effective regulars and two thousand militia, in addi- 
tion to one thousand three hundred sailors under Commodore 
Chauncey who commanded the fleet. As the Americans had 
now control of Lake Ontario it was resolved, first to send an 
expedition to capture York, and then to cross the lake and re- 
duce Fort George. York, the capital of Upper Canada, was 
then a town of nine hundred inhabitants situated just to the 
west of the Don, on a site now wholly covered by a part 
of the cit)^ of Toronto. At York a 24-gun ship was being 
built for the lake fleet, and a considerable quantity of am- 
munition and supplies was stored there, yet so great was the 
neglect with which this important post w^as treated by Sir 
George Prevost, that it was almost without defence. Two 
miles to the westward of the town was old Fort Toronto, 
erected by the French, which had been suffered to go to ruin. 



138 THE WAR OF 1812 

Half a mile east of this was the Western battery; beyond it 
was the Half Moon battery and still further east, on the bor- 
ders of a small stream which flowed through a deep ravine, 
were a picketed blockhouse and some intrenchments. Here 
the garrison was stationed. It consisted of about sixty men 
of the Glengarry Regiment, nearly a company of the New- 
foundland Regiment, and a few artillerymen. The 3rd York 
militia about three hundred strong was also stationed there. 
The entire force available for the defence of the place did not 
exceed four hundred and twenty men. Very few guns were 
mounted on the fortifications, and most of these were without 
trunnions and were set on wooden stocks with iron hoops. 
The 10-gun brig Duke of Gloucester, which was in port for 
repairs, supplied a few 6-pounders which were mounted on 
temporary field works, but the heavy carronades intended for 
the new ship that was being built at York, which might have 
been placed in batteries, had been thrown carelessly in the 
mud, where they lay covered with ice and snow. 

Such was the defenceless condition of the capital of Upper 
Canada in the spring of 1813. For the weakness of the garri- 
son and for the incredible folly of building a new warship at 
a place so poorly guarded. Sir George Prevost must be held 
responsible, but Major-General Sheaffe, who commanded at 
York, was also greatly to blame because he did not put the 
limited means at his disposal to a better use. Had the guns 
of the new ship been mounted in battery, as they should have 
been, York could have been held even against the overwhelm- 
ing odds brought against it, and a long train of misfortunes 
which followed its capture would have been avoided. 

On the twenty-fifth of April, the American expedition 
against York set sail from Sacketts Harbour. Commodore 
Chauncey, who commanded the fleet, had fourteen vessels, 
thirteen of them ships of war, mounting eighty-four guns, 
eleven of them long 32 and 24-pounders, with crews num- 
bering in the aggregate seven hundred men. The number 
of troops on board was, according to Commodore Chauncey's 
official report ''about one thousand seven hundred," but it 



THE CAPTURE OF YORK 139 

was probably more than two thousand, for it embraced For- 
syth's riflemen, Colonel McClure's volunteers, four regiments 
of United States infantry, the 6th, 15th, 16th, and 21st, and 
a considerable body of artillery. This formidable force made 
its appearance before York in the early morning of the 
twenty-seventh of April and by seven o'clock the troops com- 
menced to land. At this time the 8th Regiment was being 
transferred from Kingston to Fort George on the Niagara 
frontier, and two companies of this gallant corps, numbering 
one hundred and eighty rank and file, had halted at York the 
evening before the Americans arrived. This increased the 
number of regulars available for the defence of the place to 
about three hundred men, but it would have been better if 
they had been absent, as thereby valuable lives would have 
been saved which were sacrificed in a hopeless attempt to 
hold, against overwhelming numbers, a place that was inde- 
fensible. In addition to the six hundred regulars, militia and 
dockyard men at York, there were about fifty Indians under 
Major Givins. 

The Americans effected a landing about half a mile to the 
west of old Fort Toronto, under the protection of the guns 
of the fleet. The first party to land was Forsyth's riflemen 
two hundred and fifty strong. Major Givins with forty of 
his Indians was the only force present to oppose them at 
that point, the company of Glengarry Light Infantry which 
had been ordered to support them having by some mistake 
been led in another direction, so that it was late in coming 
into action. By the time the Glengarry company had reached 
the point of attack, Forsyth's men had been reinforced by a 
battalion of infantry under Major King, and the invaders were 
too powerful to be successfully resisted. The main body of 
the enemy under General Pike was speedily landed with the 
artillery and advanced along the shore, but they had not 
proceeded far when they encountered the British reinforce- 
ments in a thick woods. These consisted of the one hundred 
and eighty men of the 8th Regiment already mentioned, 
forty men of the Newfoundland Regiment and two hundred 



140 THE WAR OF 1812 

and fifty men of the 3rd York militia. These with the Glen- 
garry company and the Indians formed a body of less than 
six hundred men, or about one-third of the force of Americans 
now landed. Yet against such overwhelming odds they 
maintained a long and obstinate contest which was not ter- 
minated until they were fairly overpowered by weight of 
numbers. More than once the enemy was driven back by 
their gaUant charges, but the heavy losses they had suf- 
fered at length made it necessary for them to retire to the 
Western battery which was then engaged with the enemy's 
vessels. Here a stand was to have been made, but as the 
Americans approached, the magazine, the head of which had 
been carelessly left open, blew up, killing and wounding about 
forty men, and so seriously damaging the battery that it be- 
came untenable. The cannon were immediately spiked and 
the work abandoned. 

The contest had by this time been maintained for about 
seven hours, and General Sheaffe became convinced that his 
numbers and means of defence were inadequate to the task 
of keeping possession of York against the vast superiority of 
force brought against it. The troops were withdrawn to- 
wards the town and were finally ordered to retreat on the 
road to Kingston, the new ship on the stocks and the naval 
stores were destroyed, and the powder magazine in the 
battery near the barracks was blown up. This last act 
proved extremely disastrous to the Americans. They had 
cautiously approached the battery and Lieutenent Riddle 
had been sent forward to reconnoitre and ascertain the 
strength of the garrison, while their main body remained 
halted, when the magazine blew up with a prodigious shock 
and with dreadful effect. It is said to have contained five 
hundred barrels of gunpowder, and an immense quantity of 
shot and shell, and the latter with the stone and timber from 
the building were scattered in every direction over a space of 
several hundred yards. Fifty-two of the Americans were in- 
stantly killed, and one hundred and eighty others were 
wounded, many of them mortally. The terrified invaders 



THE CAPTURE OK YORK 



141 



scattered in dismay in every direction, antl it took their officers 
a long time to rally them although none of the Britisli were 
near. Among the mortally injured were General Pike and 
his two aides. The former was sitting on a stump, with his 
staff standing abcait him, engaged in questioning a British 
sergeant wlio had been made jji-isoiior, when a heavy mass of 




Map Showing the Attack ox York (Toronto) in 1813 



stone struck him on the back and crushed liim. He was re- 
moved to one of the vessels but died within the hour. 

When the Americans had recovered from the panic into 
which they had been thrown by the explosion, they advanced 
towards the town, where they were met by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Chewett and Major William Allan of the 3rd York militia, 
who proposed a capitulation. The terms, which were speed- 
ily agreed upon, were that the troops at the post, regulars and 
militia, and the naval officers and seamen should be surren- 
dered as prisoners of war; that all public stores, naval and 
military, should be given up; that all private property should 
be guaranteed to the citizens, and that the papers belonging 
to the civil officers should be retained by them. The number 
of prisoners surrendered under this capitulation was two hun- 



142 THE WAR OF 1812 

dred and ninety-two, viz., two hundred and sixty-five officers 
and men of the 3rd York militia, twenty-one officers and arti- 
ficers of the provincial navy, and six British regulars. The 
total loss of the regulars at York was sixty killed, thirty-four 
wounded, forty-three wounded and prisoners, ten prisoners 
and seven missing, a total of one hundred and fifty-four, or 
one-half of the regular force engaged. Counting the missing 
as prisoners, the total number taken by the Americans of 
militia and regulars, under the capitulation and outside of 
it, was three hundred and forty-six. General Sheaffe, with 
a negligence too common among the British officers at that 
period, makes no mention of the killed and wounded among 
the militia, but the number was about fifty. Among those 
slain was Mr. D. Macleane, the clerk of the House of As- 
sembly, who had attached himself to the 8th Regiment as 
a volunteer. In this act, as well as by the manner of his 
death, he well illustrated the spirit of the Canadian people. 
General Sheaffe with the remnant of his regulars now 
reduced to one hundred and eighty men, including thirty- 
four wounded, crossed the Don and retreated to Kingston 
which was reached in safety. When a few miles from York 
the light company of the 8th Regiment was met with on 
its way to Fort George. It retired with General Sheaffe's 
little force, and covered its retreat which was effected with- 
out molestation. The Americans lost at York, in killed 
and wounded, two hundred and eighty-six, of which sixty- 
six were killed on shore and seventeen killed or wounded 
in the fleet. The prisoners taken by them were paroled, 
and, as the Duke of Gloucester was unseaworthy without 
large repairs, the value of the spoil taken was very slight. 
It was here that they committed an act of vandalism that 
brought upon the American people at a later day severe 
retribution. They set fire to the parliament buildings and 
these with their contents were entirely consumed. These 
buildings consisted of two handsome halls with convenient 
offices for the accommodation of the legislature and courts 
of justice. The library and all the papers and records be- 



THE CAPTURE OF YORK 



143 



longing to these institutions were consumed ;it tlie same 
time. The church was robbed and even the town Hbrary 
pillaged. " Commodore Chauncey" says Colonel John Clark 
in his memoirs, "was so ashamed of this last transaction, 
that he endeavoured to collect the books belonging to the 




Bishop Sthachan 



In 1811, Lieutenant-Governor Gore offered him the parish of York, and Brock 
offered him the chaplaincy of the troops. He accepted and reached York from 
Cornwall in 1S12. In .\pril, 1813, he was most active during an attack upon the 
town, and was one of those who conducted the negotiations for capitulation. The 
people owed much to his activity and fearless courage. 



144 THE WAR OF 1812 

town and legislative library, and actually sent back two boxes 
filled with them; but hardly any were complete. Much 
private property was plundered and several houses left in 
a state of ruin." It was thus that the Americans observed 
the terms of the capitulation by which the safety of all 
private property and of the papers belonging to the civil 
officers was guaranteed. 

The capture of York was the first serious misfortune that 
befell the British in Canada during the war, and it was one 
that might have been prevented. If York was not worth 
holding, there was no necessity for keeping troops there, 
but if it was worth holding, it should have had proper de- 
fences. If General Sheaffe, instead of a few pop-gun 
6-pounders, with which he armed the batteries, had placed 
upon them the guns of the new ship that was being built, 
Chauncey's fleet would have been forced to keep at a respect- 
able distance and a landing could hardly have been effected. 
These guns comprised a long 24-pounder, eight long 18, 
four short 68, and ten short 32-pounders. With such a 
battery as that at the entrance of the harbour, York would 
have been safe. General Sheaffe, who had been made a 
baronet of the United Kingdom for his services at Queens- 
ton, was not afforded another opportunity of mismanaging 
the military affairs of Upper Canada, but was soon after- 
wards superseded in the chief command of the province by 
Major-General De Rottenburg. 



CHAPTER X 

FORT GEORGE AND SACKETTS HARBOUR 

As the Americans had no intention of hokUng York, 
their expedition to that place can only be regarded in the 
light of a I'aitl for the destruction of property. They now 
proceeded to prepare for the main object of the campaign, 
the occupation of the Niagara frontier. Dearborn and 
Chauncey were detained in York by adverse winds and bad 
weather until the eighth of May, when they crossed the 
lake and encamped their troops at Four Mile Creek to the 
east of Fort Niagara. More troops and supplies were then 
hurried forward from Sacketts Harbour, and by the twenty- 
sixth of May, the day before the attack, there were about 
six thousand American soldiers available for an attack on 
Fort George in addition to the seamen of the fleet. These 
consisted of three brigades of infantry under Generals Boyd, 
Winder and Chandler, besides riflemen and artillery. There 
was also the garrison of Fort Niagara under General Morgan 
Lewis, and a reserve formed of the marines and seamen of 
the fleet and Macomb's regiment of artillery. A sufficient 
number of boats had been built to embark the whole force 
at once. 

Against these extensive preparations for the conquest of 
Canada, the British had very little to show. The whole 
British force on the Niagara frontier was about one thousand 
eight hundred regulars and six hundred militia. The former 
consisted of the 49th Regiment and of detachments from 
the 8th, 41st, Glengarry and Newfoundland Regiments, 
and the Royal Artillery. The militia were from the counties 
of Norfolk, Lincoln and York. These troops were under 



146 



THE WAR OF 1812 



the command of Brigadier-General John Vincent. At Fort 
George, the point of attack, were eight companies of the 
49th, five companies of the 8th, three companies of the 
Glengarry and two of the Newfoundland Regiment, a few 
men from the 41st Regiment, and thirty of the Royal Artil- 
lery with two, three, and five 6-pounders and a 5^-inch 
howitzer. The whole numl^ered less than one thousand 
rank and file of regulars. There were also at Fort George 
three hundred and fifty militia and fifty Indians. Nor did 




Plan of Fort George 



the character of the defences make amends for the inadequacy 
of the force. Four of the 24-pounders captured from Hull 
had been mounted on Fort George, but that work was so 
badly situated that it did not command the whole of the 
lake shore within the range of its cannon, as it should have 
done. A fifth 24-pounder was mounted en barbette on a 
battery near the lighthouse, half a mile to the north of Newark. 
A 9-pounder was also similarly mounted near One Mile Creek 
to the westward of Newark, the point where the Americans 
landed. 

On the morning of the twenty-seventh all of the troops of 
the enemy with their artillery were embarked in the nu- 
merous boats and in the armed vessels, and before four 
o'clock the whole flotilla moved towards the mouth of the 
Niagara River. The morning was calm and foggy, a circum- 
stance which proved of great advantage to the invaders as it 



FORT r.EORCE AXD SACKETTS HARIiOUR 147 

prevented the cannon of Fort George from playing upon them 
as they took their stations. As the sun rose the fog cleared 
away and disclosed the enemy in position for the attack. 
The schooners Julia and Growler were placed at the mouth 
of the Niagara River to silence the 24-pounder mounted 
en barbette near the lighthouse. Each of these vessels carried 
a long 32-poun(ler and a long 12-pounder, so that each was 
double the force of the battery. The Ontario, which also 
mounted a long 32-pounder and a long 12-pounder, took up 
a position north of the lighthouse so as to enfi'ade the same 
battery and cross the fire of the other two. The 24-pounder, 
which was manned by militia artillery, had to be spiked and 
abandoned after tlu^ caiiiioiiade had lasted about fifteen 
minutes. Mr. James, in his ".Military Occurrences" expresses 
the opinion that this gun should have sunk one or two of 
the enemy's schooners and hints that those who manned 
it did not do their duty. But it must be remembered that 
the 24-pounder, besides the direct attack l>y the three long 
32-pounders and three long 12-poun(lers on the schooners, 
was commanded by the guns of Fort Niagara, and exposed 
to deadly discharges of grape from that quarter. There is 
no doubt that the gun was worked as long as possible by the 
militia Avho manned it. 

The schooners Tompkins and Conquest were stationed 
near One Mile Creek so as to command the 9-pounder mounted 
there, which was also manned by militia artillery. These 
vessels each carried a long 32-pounder, a long 12-p()under 
and four long 6-pounders. The point of landing for most of 
the troops was near tliis battery, and, for the purpose of 
covering this movenuMit. the Hamilton, Asy and Scourge 
took stations as close to the shore as the depth of the water 
would allow. These vessels carried between them two 
long 32-pounders, two long 24-pounders, eight long 6-pounders 
and eight ]2-p()under carronades. The ship Madison, carr}'- 
ing twenty-four 32-pounder carronades, brig Oneida, with 
sixteen 24-pounder carronades, and schooner Lady of the 
Lake with a long 9, were also placed so as to sweep the 



148 THE WAR OF 1812 

shore and do as much damage as possible to the British. 
With such powerful protection and such an immense superior- 
ity in numbers the Americans could well afford to be cool 
and confident in their movements. 

The Americans had judiciously chosen a landing-place 
which put the town of Newark between them and Fort 
George, and thereby effectually prevented the fire of the 
latter from reaching them. General Dearborn, the American 
commander, on this occasion, as at York, took good care not 
to expose his valuable person to injury, but allowed his ad- 
jutant-general. Colonel Winfield Scott, to lead the attack. 
The force under Scott's immediate command numbered, 
according to American authority, five hundred, comprising 
the 2nd United States artillery acting as infantry, Forsyth's 
riflemen, and detachments from infantry regiments. They 
were supported by General Lewis's division with Porter's 
command of light artillery. These were followed by the 
brigades of Generals Boyd, Winder and Chandler. 

Practically these troops all landed about the same time. 
The level plateau to the north of Newark was so thoroughly 
swept by the fire from the American vessels that it was al- 
most impossible for troops to face it, and the enemy, there- 
fore, had little difficulty in reaching the shore, which was 
entirely bare of British soldiers. The place of landing was 
at a point about ha'f a mile to the westward of the light- 
house, and not far from a ravine where the British advance, 
composed of about two hundred rank and file of the Glen- 
garry and Newfoundland Regiments under Captain Winter, 
and forty Indians under Norton, was stationed. This de- 
tachment inflicted some loss on Scott's men as they ap- 
proached, and delayed the landing for a short time by their 
fire, but such a shower of grape was turned upon them from 
the vessels that they were obliged to fall back upon the left 
column, which was stationed in another ravine about a 
quarter of a mile in their rear. This column was composed 
of three hundred and twenty rank and file of the 8th Regi- 
ment and one hundred and sixty militia with three light 



FORT GEORGE AND SACKETTS HARBOUR 149 

fieklpieces manned by a few men of the Royal iVrtillery 
and 41st Regiment. It was commanded by Colonel Myers, 
the acting quartermaster-general. The 9-pounder mounted 
near the place of landing had by this time been effectually 
silenced by the killing or wounding of all the militia artillery 
who manned it, so that Gc^neral Boyd's brigade was able to 
reach the shore almost without op})osition. The brigades 
of Winder and Chandler followed in quick succession. 

When the enemy to the number of about four thousand 
had landed, they advanced in three solid columns, their right 
covered by a large body of riflemen, and their left and front 
by the fire of the shipping and the guns of Fort Niagara. On 
the plateau they encountered the little detachment of Colonel 
Myers, which, united to the remnant of the advance party, 
numbered about six hundred and fifty rank and file. The 
struggle that ensued was fierce and illustrated the bravery of 
the British troops and Canadian militia in the most striking 
manner. Despite the dreadful losses they suffered by grape 
and round shot from the enemy's vessels, they drove back 
the Americans several times, and only gave ground when com- 
pelled to do so by the thinning of their ranks and the over- 
whelming numbers of the foe. The British force lost about 
two-thirds of its strength. Of the three hundred and twenty 
men of the 8th Regiment engaged, two hundred and two 
were killed or wounded. Of the two hundred of the Glen- 
garry and Newfoundland Regiments one hundred and 
fourteen were placed hors de combat, while the killed and 
wounded among the militia amounted to eighty-five out of 
the one hundred and sixty engaged. Who will say that the 
glory was not equal where the losses were so fairly balanced? 
The Canadian militia at Newark, as in all the battles of the 
war, emulated the steadiness of the disciplined regulars, and 
showed themselves worthy of their brave fathers who settled 
the wilderness of Upper Canada. Colonel Myers was wounded 
in three places and obliged to quit the field. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Harvey, the deputy adjutant-general who com- 
manded the right column, succeeded Colonel Myers, leaving 



150 THE WAR OF 18] 2 

his own column in charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Plender- 
leath with orders to move it forward. This column, which 
consisted of four hundred rank and file of the 49th Regiment 
and eighty militia, advanced to the support of the left and 
protected its retreat, which had now become necessary. 
General Vincent, seeing the hopelessness of further prolong- 
ing the contest, ordered his men to retire to the Indian council 
house half a mile to the rear of Newark, and about the same 
distance from Fort George. Here, while awaiting the ad- 
vance of the enemy, it was learned that an American force 
had been sent to turn the right flank of the British and cut 
off their retreat to Burlington Heights. As Fort George was 
untenable, not a moment was to be lost. Orders were sent 
to its small garrison of fifty of the 49th Regiment and eighty 
militia to evacuate it, after blowing up its magazines and 
spiking its guns. Messengers were also despatched in haste 
to Lieutenant-Colonel Bisshopp, who commanded at Fort 
Erie, and to Major Ormsby at Chippawa directing them 
to evacuate their posts immediately and march to Beaver 
Dam, sixteen miles from Fort George. General Vincent 
now retired with his sadly reduced army to Beaver Dam, 
which was reached about eight o'clock the same evening. 
There he was joined at a later hour by all the detachments 
from Chippawa to Fort Erie under Lieutenant-Colonel 
Bisshopp, as well as by the light infantry and one battalion 
company of the 8th and a few sailors under Captain Barclay, 
who had been escorted from Twenty Mile Creek by Captain 
Merritt of the Niagara Dragoons. 

The contest at Newark lasted from three to four hours, 
and reflected as much credit on the British and Canadian 
troops engaged in it as it was possible to obtain in a battle 
that was lost. The regulars had fifty-two killed outright 
and three hundred and six wounded or missing, a total of 
three hundred and fifty-eight. The militia lost upwards of 
one hundred in killed and wounded, although not more than 
two-thirds of the three hundred and fifty on the field were 
closely engaged. Lossing, after correctly stating the number 



FORT GEORGE AND SACKETTS HARBOUR 151 

of the militia at Newark as three huiuhvd and fifty, tells 
his readers four pages farther on that five hundred and seven 
of the niihtia were made prisoners. None of the unwounded 
militia were made prisoners, and the only unwounded pri- 
soners taken were a few men of the 49th Regiment, who 
delayed their retirement from Fort George until it was too 
late. General Dearborn in his official despatch only claims 
one hundred unwounded prisoners, which is more than 
double the real number. But for a week after the battle of 
Newark his officers were engaged in visiting all the farm- 
houses on the Niagara frontier, and in i)aroling all their 
male inhabitants, so it is quite possible that as many as 
five hundred and seven names were obtained in this way. 
The Americans state their own losses at Newark as forty 
killed and one hundred and eleven wounded, which shows 
that despite the advantages of their position and the pro- 
tection they received from their fleet, they were severely 
handled by the small force op])Osed to them. 

The result of the cajiture of Fort George was the occupa- 
tion by the Americans of the whole Niagara frontier. This 
result would not have been attained but for the loss of the 
control of Lake Ontario, the preceding autumn. Had Sir 
George Prevost been an active officer he would have seen 
that this loss was promptly repaired, and measures taken 
to again obtain control of the lake as soon as navigation 
opened. But of the tw^o new vessels laid down for the rein- 
forcement of the British fleet, neither was completed when 
the lake harbours were clear of ice, and one, as has been seen, 
was destroyed w^hen York was taken. The other, which 
was named the Wolfe, was not ready for service until the end 
of May, although Sir James Yeo, who was to command the 
British fleet on Lake Ontario, had been at Kingston as early 
as the tenth of that month. This delay was fatal to Newark 
and Fort George. A vigilant commander-in-chief would 
have had both his ships built at Kingston and one of them 
at least ready for sea at the very earliest opening of lake 
navigation. Had this been done, York could not have been 



152 THE WAR OF 1812 

attacked and the invasion of the Niagara frontier would 
have failed. 

On the very day that Fort George was captured by the 
Americans, Sir George Prevost and Sir James Yeo set out 
on an expedition from Kingston which was to illustrate in 
a striking manner the entire unfitness of the former for the 
command of any enterprise which demanded energy and 
daring. Sacketts Harbour, although in April it was occu- 
pied by five thousand regulars, two thousand militia and 
one thousand three hundred sailors, had been so denuded 
of its troops by the expedition against Fort George, that 
Sir James Yeo believed it could be taken if vigorously 
attacked. The commander-in-chief gave his consent to an 
attempt on the place, but destroyed all hope of the success 
of the expedition by undertaking to lead it himself. On the 
evening of the twenty-seventh of May, Sir James Yeo's fleet 
set sail for Sacketts Harbour. The land forces on board 
consisted of the grenadier company of the 100th Regiment, 
a section of the 1st (Royal Scots), two companies of the 8th, 
four of the 104th, two of the Canadian voltigeurs and one 
company of the Glengarry Light Infantry, with two 6-pounders 
and their gunners, numbering altogether about seven hundred 
and fifty rank and file. About forty Indians also accom- 
panied the expedition with their canoes. Before noon on 
the following day the British fleet was off Sacketts Har- 
bour, the breeze was moderate, the weather fine and bright 
and everything favorable for an attack. Sir George Prevost 
seems also to have thought the time suitable, for the fleet 
was ordered to stand in close to the shore, and, as the vessels 
lay to, the troops were transferred to the boats. When they 
had been in them for some time awaiting the signal to ad- 
vance they were perplexed and astonished by an order to 
return to the fleet. They were again placed on board the 
ships which now stood away from Sacketts Harbour. The 
cause of this sudden abandonment of the attempt to land on 
that occasion has never been satisfactorily explained. Ameri- 
can writers attribute it to the appearance of a flotilla of nine- 



FORT GEORGE AND SACKETTS llARBUUR 153 

teen American gunboats off Stoncy Point. Tliose boats 
contained a detachment of dismounted drag(^()ns for Sacketts 
Harbour, and as soon as the Indians saw them they gave 
chase. Seven of the boats escaped, but the other twelve 
with seventy of their occupants were captured by Lieutenant 
Dobbs of- the Wolfe with the ship's boats, which wont in 
support of the IncUans. 

Had Sacketts Harbour been attaclved the first day the 
fleet appeared, it would have been captured almost without 
a blow. Then the fleet could have approached the shore 
and shelled the Americans out of their works while tiie J^ritish 
effected a landing. The defenders of the place did not ex- 
pect an attack and were, in a large measure, unprepeard for 
it. But the kindness of Sir George Prevost, who did not 
wish to offend the Americans, or keep alive a spirit of hostility, 
gave them ample warning, and, during the afternoon and 
night of the twenty-eighth, reinforcements were hurried to 
Sacketts Harbour from the outlying country. It is not un- 
likely that Sir George Prevost would have carrietl his consid- 
eration for the Americans so far as to spare them any attack 
whatever but for the strong remonstrances of Sir James Yeo, 
who did not understand and could not be made to see the 
beauties of the conunander-in-chief's system of making war. 
It was, therefore, settled that the attempt was to be made on 
the morning of the twenty-ninth. 

The defences of Sacketts Harbour consisted of Fort Tomp- 
kins, a considerable work comprising a strong blockhouse 
and surrounding intrenchments on the west side of the har- 
bour, and Fort ^'olunteer on the east side of the harbour. 
The latter was surrounded by a ditch with a strong line of 
picketing. The garrison, according to the statement of tlie 
American general, Wilkinson, on the morning of the attack 
numbered one thousand three hundred men, of which only 
three hundred and fifty were militia. There were three 
hundred and thirteen light dragoons, one hundred and forty- 
two artillery three hundred and thirty-two infantry and 
one hundred and sixty-five Albany volunteers, or nine hun- 



154 



THE WAR OF 1812 



drecl and fifty regularly trained soldiers, besides the militia. 
The defenders of Sacketts Harbour were nearly twice as 
numerous as the attacking force, which numbered less than 
seven hundred and fifty. 

At dawn on the twenty-ninth the British embarked in 
thirty-three boats, and accompanied by two small gunboats 
advanced towards Sacketts Harbour. There was not a 
breath of wind stirring, and owing to this fact the vessels of 
the fleet were becalmed eight miles away, and, therefore, were 
unable to take any part in the attack. The only artillery with 
the land force, two 6-pounders with the men who manned the 
guns, was on board a light schooner which was expected 
to reach the landing-place at the same time as the infantry, 
but instead of this being the case, the vessel did not get to 
the shore at all, so the attack had to be made without artil- 



OPERATiON5 

SACKETrsriARBOR 

May ir.l3 







y / J I'll <- ■ n ts , Ji I. I-.1 -V, ■■ fr. —-J-:.. 



lery. Thus, owing to the stupidity, or worse, of Sir George 
Prevost, the success of the enterprise was rendered almost 
impossible. 

The British landed on Horse Island, under the fire of a 
long 32-pounder on Fort Tompkins, and such field-guns as 
the Americans could bring to bear on them. The island, 
which is two thousand yards to the west of Fort Tompkins, 
is separated from the mainland by a narrow strait, which 



FORT GEORGE AND SACKETTS IIAKliorK 155 

is always fordable and soinetinies almost dry. This strait, 
which with the approach formed a causeway four huntlred 
yards in length, had to be traversed by the attacking column 
in the face of the Albany volunteers and th(> militia, num- 
bering altogether about five hundred, who with a 6-pounder 
occupied a favourable position on the shon^ for destroying 
the British as they advanced. Tliey were post(Yl behind a 
ridge of gravel which afforded them an excellent shelter, 
and as they had been talking in the most valiant manner 
and appeared to be consumed with martial ardour, it was 
expected they would make a desperate stand. But the 
moment the British approached, the grenadiers of the 100th 
Regiment gallantly leading, the valiant militia became 
panic-stricken and fled in wild confusion, leaving their 
6-pounder behind them. That no injustice may be done to 
these paladins of New York state, it will be proper to quote 
what an American author says of their conduct. ''General 
Brown," says this writer, "expected the militia would have 
remained firm until the enemy were finally on the mainland. 
But their movement was so sudden, general and rapid, 
that he found himself comi)letly alone, not a man standing 
within several rods of him. Stung by this shameful con- 
duct, he ran after the fugitives and endeavoured to arrest 
their flight. His efforts were unavailing. Forgetful of their 
promises of courage, and unmindful of the ord(M's they had 
received to rally in the woods in the event of their being 
driven back, they continued their flight until they were sure 
of being out of harm's way. Some of them were not heard 
of again during the da5^" 

The British, after reaching the mainland, separated int > 
two columns, the left, under Colonel Young of the 8th with 
half of the force, penetrated the woods to the left towards 
Fort Tompkins by a direct route parallel to the shore, 
while the remainder, which formed the right column under 
Major Drummond of the 104th, took a path which led to the 
right, and through which the Americans had fled. Colonel 
Young in his advance was assailed by five hundred men of 



156 THE WAR OF 1812 

the dismounted dragoons, regular infantry and volunteers, 
who, firing from behind trees, inflicted considerable loss on 
the left column, but they were speedily driven back on the 
main body. Major Drummond with the right column, 
which had met with hardly any opposition, now joined 
Colonel Young, and the whole force advanced against the 
Americans and compelled them to take refuge in the log bar- 
racks and stockaded fort, leaving one of their guns behind 
them. So complete was their defeat and so hopeless seemed 
the prospect of holding Sacketts Harbour, that Lieutenant 
Chauncey set fire to the naval barracks and storehouses and 
to the captured schooner Duke of Gloucester, as well as to the 
General Pike, the new warship then on the stocks. At this 
moment the good genius of the Americans in the shape of the 
commander-in-chief interfered to save them from inevitable 
defeat. Sir George Prevost with victory in his grasp ordered 
a retreat. It was in vain that the brave Major Drummond 
of the 104th, who afterwards fell like the hero that he was 
in the foremost ranks at Fort Erie, remonstrated with the 
general and offered to put him in possession of the fortifi- 
cations if he would give him but a few minutes. He was 
rudely silenced by his timid leader and told to obey his orders 
and learn the first duty of a soldier. The orders were obeyed 
and the humiliated troops returned to their ships, retreating 
before an enemy that had not dared to look them in the 
face. 

The British loss at Sacketts Harbour was heavy and 
amounted to fifty killed, one hundred and ninety-five 
wounded and sixteen missing, a total of two hundred and 
sixty-one. The American loss was forty-seven killed, eighty- 
four wounded and thirty-six missing or one hundred and 
sixty-seven in all. When the British retired, the Americans 
succeeded in extinguishing the flames on the Pike and Duke of 
Gloucester, but the barracks and storehouses were destroyed 
and with them property valued at half a million dollars. 
But for the weakness of Sir George Prevost, the disgraceful 
result at Sacketts Harbour would have been changed into a 



FORT GEOIUiK AND SACKETT8 HARBOUR 157 

brilliant victory, antl the Americans would have permanently 
lost the contol of Lake Ontario. As it was, the cowardly 
militia who ran away as fast as their le^s could carry them 
could boast that they defeated the British. It is some conso- 
lation to know that while the conduct of the commander-in- 
chief was scandalous, that of the troops, officers and men, 
was admirable. The men of the lOOth and 104th Re^inK-nts, 
who had never been under fire before, behaved like v(»terans. 
The grenadier company of the lOOth, which le(l the advance, 
lost twenty-nine men; the four companies engaged of the 
l()4tli lost ninety-one men, the two comjjanies of the 8th 
lost eighty-one and the Glengarry comj)any twenty-six. 
The British soldiers were not defeated at Sacketts Harbour, 
they were sim])ly led back from a victori(jus field by an in- 
competent general. 



CHAPTER XI 



BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 



It is now time to return to General Vincent's army which 
we left encamped at Beaver Dam the night after the capture 
of Fort George. With the detachments from Fort Erie and 
Chippawa and the two companies of the 8th Regiment, which 
had arrived from Twenty Mile Creek, the number of regulars 
present was one thousand six hundred rank and file. On the 
following day, the twenty-eighth of May, the retreat was con- 
tinued to Forty Mile Creek and from there, the same evening, 
General Vincent wrote his official account of the battle. The 
militia had been mustered at Beaver Dam and given their 
choice to remain behind or follow the army. All whose busi- 
ness did not imperatively require their presence at home 
adopted the latter course. On the twenty-ninth the army 
encamped at Burlington Heights. 

A rumour now reached General Dearborn at Fort George 
that Procter was marching from Maiden with his army to 
reinforce Vincent. It seemed necessary to the American 
general that the hitter's force should be destroyed or cap- 
tured before this junction took place. General Winder, a 
Baltimore lawyer, who, although without military experience 
had been appointed to high command for political reasons, 
was anxious to undertake this duty, and was accordingly 
sent in pursuit of Vincent, with a brigade of infantry, Burns's 
dragoons antl Archer's and Towson's artillery. He advanced 
as far as Twenty Mile Creek where he was informed of the 
position of the British army, and halting there he sent back 
to Dearborn for reinforcements. He was joined on the fifth 
of June by General Chandler with his brigade, and the latter 



BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 15!» 

being the senior oliicer took the ciiief conmiuncl. Chandler 
was another general who had been appointed for political 
reasons and who had never seen any previous service. The 
whole force then advanced to Forty Mile Creek from which 
they drove away a few Niagara dragoons under Captain 
Merritt. From this point they moved to Stoney Creek 
where they were within seven miles of X'incent's camp at 
the head of Burlington Bay. 

The American army had been very demonstrative in its 
advance, and detachments of it had indulge(l in the com- 
paratively safe amusement of chasing such British })ickets 
as they encountered on their march. Their countrymen who 
have written histories of the war describe in glowing terms 
how two pickets, which possibly aggregated as many as 
twenty men, were driven in one after the other, and how 
^'the victors pushed on in pursuit until they saw ^'incent's 
camp." ''Then," we are told, "they wheeled and made 
their way leisurely back to Stoney Creek." The remarkable 
character of the battle which followetl before the rising of 
another sun has made patriotic American writers very re- 
ticent in regard to the numbers of the American troops 
encamped at Stoney Creek. Lossing, who had acquired an 
audacity in falsification not easy to parallel, states their 
numbers at one thousand three hundred. Now it is admitted 
that there were two hundred and fifty dragoons, and there 
were nine guns fully manned by artillery while some of the 
latter were acting as light infantry. It is, therefore, safe 
to say that the artillery of th(> 2nd U. S. Regiment 
present was at least three hundred and hfty strong. De- 
ducting the cavalry and artill(>ry from Lossing's one thousand 
three hundred would leave but seven hundred for the strength 
of the two brigades of infantry. These two brigades com- 
prised seven regiments, Avhich. according to Lossing, could 
have numbered only one hundred men each. It is not neces- 
sary to enlarge on the absurdity of such a statement. The 
two brigades must have numbered at least three thousand 
men, in addition to the cavalrv and artillerv. 



160 THE WAR OF 1812 

When the presence of the enemy at Stoney Creek became 
known, Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, the deputy adjutant- 
general, went out with the light companies of the 8th and 
49th Regiments to reconnoitre their position. He reported 
that their camp guards were few and negligent; their line of 
encampment long and broken; their artillery feebly supported 
and several of their corps placed too far in the rear to aid in 
repelling a blow which might be rapidly and vigorously 
struck at the front. He, therefore, advised a night attack on 
the enemy's camp and his advice was adopted. Half an 
hour before midnight General Vincent moved out of his camp 
with the force selected for this daring enterprise. It con- 
sisted of the 49th Regiment and five companies of the 8th, 
numbering in all seven hundred and four rank and file. The 
night was extremely dark, so that the British were able to 
approach without being discovered, and at two o'clock in 
the morning with fixed bayonets they rushed into the centre 
of the American camp. Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey led the 
advance but General Vincent also engaged in the charge in 
person. The American centre was instantly broken and 
Major Plenderleath, at the head of forty men of the 49th, 
fell upon the artillery and bayoneted the men at the guns. 
The American left composed of the 5th, 16th and 23rd Regi- 
ments of United States infantry was assailed by one-half of 
the five companies of the 8th under Major Ogilvie, and utterly 
routed and driven from the field. This flank attack decided 
the contest. The remainder of the 8th joined in the main 
assault on the enemy's centre which became completely 
demoralized and fled. General Winder was captured by 
Sergeant William Fraser of the 49th, and General Chandler 
was also taken a few minutes later under one of the guns, 
where he had fallen in the struggle. Four guns were cap- 
tured, three iron 6-pounders and a brass 5^-inch howitzer, 
but as there were not enough horses taken to draw them, 
two of the 6-pounders were spiked and left behind. 

The enemy had been completely defeated and scattered, 
but daylight was now approaching and it was not deemed 



BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 



161 



prudent to let the Americans know how small a force had 
effected their discomfiture. The British therefore marched 
back to their camp taking with them two brigadier-generals, 



STONEV CftCCK BftTTLt: afiOI/NO 







r V* 



j> 



The Stonet Creek Battle-Ground 
It is a little to the east of the present village of Stoney Creek. 



one major, five captains, one lieutenant and one hundred 

and sixteen non-commissioned officers and privates. Besides 

these living trophies of their valour they had the two cannon 
11 



162 THE WAR OF 1812 

with their carriages and nine artillery horses to draw them. 
In addition to the prisoners taken the Americans lost seven- 
teen killed and thirty-eight wounded. The British loss 
amounted to twenty-three killed, one hundred and thirty-six 
wounded and fifty-five missing. Major Ogilvie and Major 
Plenderleath, both of whom took a conspicuous part in this 
brilliant affair, were severely wounded. 

The defeat of the Americans at Stoney Creek and the cap- 
ture of both their generals was one of the most remarkable 
achievements of the war. Coming as it did after three severe 
reverses, all due to the neglect and incompetency of the 
governor-general, it showed that the soldiers of the army were 
capable of succeeding in any enterprise, however daring, if 
properly led. It was a blow struck at a truculent and boastful 
enemy at the moment of his imagined triumph and the shock 




Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Sir John) Harvey 

Who suggested and led the night charge at Stoney Creek. He was afterwards 
governor of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 



BATTLE OF STONE V CREEK 163 

of it derangetl and demoralized the whole American jjjan of 
invasion. To Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, General Mneent 
in his official report justly gave the credit of suggesting this 
gallant exploit, and of making the arrangements which re- 
sulted in such a signal success. l:iut he was also able to state 
with entire truth, " that every officer and individual seemed 
anxious to rival each other in his efforts to support the honour 
of His Majesty's armies; and to maintain the high character 
of British troops." 

The American troops were so demoralized by the result 
of the battle of Stoney Creek that they ceased to be an 
army and became a mere mob. When it was light enough 
for them to see that the British had departed, they re- 
turned to their camp, but only to destroy the larger part of 
their stores. They then fled to Forty Mile Creek with such 
haste that they left their dead unburied and their severely 
wounded uncared for. Fortunately for the British the fears 
of the enemy prevented the work of destruction from being 
completed, and when they occupied the deserted American 
camp at eleven o'clock the same forenoon, they found an 
abundant supply of stores and ammunition to relieve their 
wants. At Forty Mile Creek the retreating Americans were 
joined by Colonel James Miller with four hundred men of 
the 6th and 15th Regiments of infantry from Fort George. 
In a letter written to his wife he aptly describes their terrified 
condition. ''I can assure you," said he, "I can scarce be- 
lieve that you would have been more glad to see me than 
that army was." The arrival of this reinforcement seems to 
have put sufficient courage into the retreating force to induce 
them to halt, and they encamped on a level plateau at Forty 
Mile Creek with one flank resting on the lake and the other 
on the creek which skirts the base of the "Mountain." On 
the following afternoon they were joined by Generals Lewis 
and Boyd and the former assumed the command. After 
making due allowance for the losses suffered at Stoney Creek 
and the reinforcements which had arrived under Colonel 
Miller, it is safe to say that the American army then encamped 



164 THE WAR OF 1812 

at Forty Mile Creek must have numbered at least three thou- 
sand seven hundred men. Unfortunately for them they had 
lost what alone makes an army efficient, their moral power. 
They had no longer any confidence in the officers who com- 
manded them or in themselves. Scarcely had they settled 
themselves comfortably in their new camp when an un- 
expected and much dreaded enemy appeared. At six o'clock 
on the evening of the seventh of June the white- sails of ves- 
sels were seen far out on the lake, and as they approached 
it was observed by their rigging and flag that they were war 
vessels, and that they were British. It was the fleet of Sir 
James Yeo. 

This vigilant and active commander had, by the addition 
of the Wolfe to his fleet, acquired what Chauncey deemed 
so great a superiority that the American commodore fled to 
Sacketts Harbour and remained there until the twenty-first 
of July, when his new ship the Pike was ready for sea. From 
this incident the reader will be able to judge of the amount 
of aid the invading American army would have received from 
Commodore Chauncey had the Wolfe been on the lake at the 
beginning of navigation, and had the other new ship des- 
troyed at York, which was of equal force with the Wolfe, 
been built at Kingston. On the third of June, Sir James 
Yeo left that port with three hundred men of the 8th Regi- 
ment, and supplies for General Vincent's army. Having 
discovered the American camp at Forty Mile Creek early on 
the morning of the eighth, although it was too calm for his 
heavier vessels to approach, he had two of his schooners, the 
Beresford and Sidney Smith towed in to attack the enemy. 
The long guns of these vessels, which consisted of one 24, 
two 12's and a 9-pounder were replied to by four American 
cannon with red-hot shot. Sir James sent in a summons 
demanding the surrender of the American army, but General 
Lewis seems to have been of the opinion that such a proceed- 
ing was unnecessary so long as his men possessed the ability 
to run away. At ten o'clock the same morning, this invading 
army was in full retreat to Fort George. Their baggage and 




Grenadiers of the 8th, Kixg's Reoiment 



166 THE WAR OF 1812 

camp equipage were embarked in nineteen hateanx and the 
men in charge of them attempted to proceed towards the 
Niagara River, but they were chased by a British schooner 
and twTlve of them captured. The other seven which went 
ashore and were abandoned by their crews, also became a prize 
to the British. The American army fled in such haste that 
when Lieutenant-Colonel Bisshopp's advance party entered 
their deserted camp, he found five hundred tents stand- 
ing, one hundred and forty barrels of flour, one hundred 
stand of arms, a considerable amount of other stores and 
seventy prisoners. The American army, in its flight to Fort 
George, lost heavily by desertions, and many prisoners were 
taken by the militia and Indians who hovered on its rear. 
It was estimated by American writers at the time that fully 
one thousand men were lost in the unfortunate expedition 
under Winder and Chandler. Its result was to compel Gen- 
eral Dearborn to abandon the entire Niagara frontier, except 
Fort George, and concentrate his forces there, where he re- 
mained virtually in a state of siege. 

On the same day that the Americans fled from Forty Mile 
Creek, Lieutenant-Colonel Bisshopp reached there with the 
flank company of the 49th Regiment and a battalion company 
of the 41st. The reinforcement of the 8th, which Sir James 
Yeo brought him, raised his strength to nearly five hundred 
men, and with these he held the deserted camp of the Ameri- 
cans until joined by the main body. In the meantime Sir 
James was very active with his fleet in intercepting and 
capturing all army supplies going to the Americans at Fort 
George. On the thirteenth he captured two schooners and a 
number of boats laden with valuable hospital stores and 
supplies at Eighteen Mile Creek, east of the Niagara River. 
On the sixteenth he carried off the contents of a depot of 
provisions at the village of Charlotte on the Genesee River, 
and on the nineteenth he landed a party of marines at Great 
Sodas and took six hundred barrels of flour. 

The 104th Regiment having arrived from Kingston to 
reinforce General Vincent's army, Lieutenant-Colonel Bis- 



BATTLE OF STOXF.Y CREEK 



167 



shopp, who coiuiiiaiided the advance, pushed forward detach- 
ments to hold Beaver Dam and Ten Mile Creek. Half a 
company of the 104th occiii)i(Ml a stone house owned by one 
De Cou at the former place, and General Dearborn considered 
the position of this little force so nuniacing that he resolved 
to capture it. Accordingly, on the evening of the twenty- 
third of June, he detached Lieutenant-Colonel Boerstler of 
the 14th United States infantry for that purpose with a force 
which, according to the general's official report, numbered 
five hundred and seventy men. It comi)rised the larger part 
of the 14tli Regiment, a company of the Gth and one of the 




Lavra Sr.COHD 
From a photograph takon lato in lifr 



23rd. with a few cavalry and artillery and two fieldpieces, a 
12 and a 6-pounder. Boerstler proceeded by way of Queens- 
ton antl St. Davids, and on the following morning, when 
near Beaver Dam Creek, encountered a party of two hundred 
Indians under John Brant and Captain Kerr. After a sharp 



168 THE WAR OF 1812 

skirmish which lasted a couple of hours, Boerstler determined 
to retire and abandon his attempt on the post at Beaver Dam, 
but while endeavouring to gain the road leading to Lundy's 
Lane his path was crossed by Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas 
Clark with fifteen men of the 2nd Lincoln militia, who at 
once opened fire. Boerstler halted and sent a courier to Dear- 
born for reinforcements. Lieutenant Fitz Gibbon of the 49th, 
with forty-six men of that famous regiment, now arrived and 
added to the embarrassment of the bewildered Americans. 
Fitz Gibbon had been warned of the intended attack by Mrs. 
Laura Secord, a resident of Queenston who had overheard 
some of the American soldiers speaking of it. Mrs. Secord 
walked from Queenston to Beaver Dam, making a long circuit 
through the woods to avoid the American guards, and warned 
Fitz Gibbon of the impending danger. Fitz Gibbon, with an 
audacity akin to genius, sent in a summons to Boerstler de- 
manding the hnmediate surrender of his force in the name of 
Major De Haren of the Canadian Regiment. Boerstler, whose 
powerful lungs in the affair at Frenchman's Creek the pre- 
vious autumn were, according to American accounts, so 
terrifying to the British, now seems to have lost not only the 
use of his voice, but of his reasoning faculties, for he at once 
complied with Fitz Gibbon's demand. It was fortunate that 
as the articles of surrender were being drawn up, Major De 
Haren did appear with the light company of the 8th Regi- 
ment, the two flank companies of the 104th and a few militia 
cavalry under Captain Hall, the whole numbering about two 
hundred and twenty rank and file. He was just in time to sign 
his name to the paper by which five hundred and twelve officers 
and men of the United States army and thirty militia were 
surrendered to the forces of His Majesty, King George III. 
The surrender included the two field-guns already spoken of, 
two cars and the colours of the 14th U. S. Regiment of 
infantry. This made the fourth body of American invaders 
of Canada that was captured by the British. 

The history of Boerstler's surrender, following closely on 
the defeat at Stoney Creek and the flight of the American 



BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 



169 



army to Fort George, produced great irritation among the 
valiant men at Washington who made laws for the people of 
the United States. The recall of General Dearborn was 




Laura Skcokd's Mom mknt in the Graveyakd at Lundy's Lane 



loudly demanded, and that commander-in-chief of the armies 
of the United States was removed, under the polite form em- 
ployed by governments, by being requested to retire until his 
health should be re-established. Dearborn was a political 



170 THE WAR OF 1812 

general and had no qualifications whatever for high command. 
He took no active part in any of the operations that were 
conducted in his name, but entrusted the execution of his 
orders to others. He was succeeded in the command of the 
army of the north by General James Wilkinson, who was then 
in command of the gulf region. General Wade Hampton, 
who had been stationed at Norfolk, was also ordered to the 
northern frontier. Both men had been active officers in the 
War of the Revolution, Wilkinson being on the staff of General 
Gates at Saratoga, and Hampton having been a partisan 
ranger in South Carolina with Marion. It would have been 
better for the reputation of both these generals if there had 
been no War of 1812. 

Although the Americans at Fort George must have num- 
bered at least five thousand men, the pressure put upon them 
by the British was so great that they were restricted to the 
vicinity of their encampment. The latter had formed a 
cordon extendiijg from Twelve Mile Creek on Lake Ontario 
to Queenston on the Niagara River, and within the limited 
triangular area which this line enclosed the Americans were 
hemmed. It was at this time that the government, whose 
secretary of war had boasted that he could take Canada with- 
out soldiers, was forced to call in the aid of the Indians of 
western New York. As early as November, 1812, the Senecas, 
at the instigation of that debauched and cowardly old vaga- 
bond. Red Jacket, had called a bogus council of the Six 
Nations and issued a declaration of war against Great Britain. 
It was due to the mere pride and obstinacy of General Smyth, 
the American ''Van Bladder," that they were not at that time 
found fighting side by side with the soldiers of the United 
States. But that boastful nation had become humble- 
minded by reason of its numerous defeats, and in July, 1813, 
was glad to accept the services of the Senecas and Tuscaroras 
to fight its battles. This act shows the utter lack of sincerity 
of those professions of horror at the employment of Indians 
by the British, which fill so many pages of American histories. 
When Lord Chatham in December, 1777, made his famous 



BATTLE OF STOXEY CREEK 171 

spooch in tho House of Lords against the eini)loynient of the 
Indians by his countrymen in the war in America, he could 
not have been aware that at the very beginning of the revo- 
lutionary contest Washington solicited the alliance of all the 
Indian tribes, and that from the early part of 1775 to the end 
of the war, the colonists employed as many Indians as they 
could persuade to join them. 

Some minor enterprises on the Niagara fr(jntier at this time 
now demand notice. On the night of July 4th, 1813, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Clark of the 2nd Lincoln militia 
with forty of his men crossed over in boats from Chippawa 
to Schlosser, captured the guard there and brought back to 
the Canadian side of the Niagara River fifteen prisoners, a 
brass 6-pounder, fifty stand of arms, and a considerable 
quantity of ammunition, as well as flour, salt pork and other 
provisions. They also carried off a gunboat and two bateaux. 

This daring and successful enterprise suggested another on 
a more extensive scale. At two o'clock on the morning of the 
eleventh of July, Lieutenant-Colonel Risshopp with a detach- 
ment consisting of twenty of the Royal Artillery, forty of the 
8th Regiment, one hundred of the 41st, forty of the 49th and 
about forty of the 2nd and 3rd Lincoln militia under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Thomas Clark, in all two hundred and 
forty men, embarked at Chippawa for the jDurpose of attacking 
the enemy's batteries at Black Rock. They landed there 
half an hour before daylight, without being perceived, and at 
once proceeded to attack the batteries which were carried 
with little opposition, the artillerymen who had been in charge 
being overpowered, and the militia, two hundred in number, 
taking to their heels. The blockhouses, barracks and navy 
yard, with one large schooner, were then burnt and the British 
proceeded to remove the stores to their boats. This took a 
considerable time, and before the work was completed the 
Americans, reinforced by a body of regulars from Buffalo and 
a band of Indians, had returned in force. The British in the 
midst of their work were attacked, and a sharp contest ensued, 
but finding the Indians could not be driven from the woods in 



172 THE WAR OF 1812 

which they had posted themselves without a greater loss 
being sustained than such a victory would have been worth, 
it was deemed prudent to retreat to the boats, and the British 
crossed the river under a very heavy fire. The object of the 
expedition had been fully accomplished. Eight cannon were 
captured, of which four were destroyed, and four others, 
including two brass 6-pounders, brought away; one hundred 
and seventy-seven muskets, a quantity of ammunition, one 
hundred and twenty-three barrels of salt, forty-six barrels 
of whiskey and a quantity of flour, blankets and clothing 
with seven large bateaux and one large scow, were taken to 
the Canadian side. The British loss was, however, severe 
and amounted to thirteen killed, twenty-five wounded and 
six missing. The latter were six privates who were wounded 
and had to be left behind, along with Captain Saunders of 
the 41st. The Americans put down their losses at three 
killed and five wounded, which may be correct, as the greater 
part of the British loss was sustained after they had em- 
barked. 

Among the wounded was Lieutenant-Colonel Bisshopp, the 
leader of the expedition. He died five days later at Lundy's 
Lane. Bisshopp was a gallant young man and his loss was a 
severe one to the army, but in the Black Rock expedition 
his contempt for the enemy, who were only capable of firing 
at the British soldiers from ambuscades, seems to have made 
hirh careless and induced him to keep his men ashore too 
long. In this contest the Americans were indebted to their 
savage allies, the Indians, for any partial success they 
achieved in inflicting loss upon the British. 

The strengthening of Chauncey's fleet on Lake Ontario by 
the completion of the Pike, made the commodore anxious to 
distinguish himself by some notable enterprise. The British 
had a depot of stores and provisions at Burlington Heights, 
which was guarded by one hundred and fifty men of the 104th 
Regiment under Major Maule. It was thought a sudden 
attack on this post might succeed, and accordingly on the 
twenty-eighth of July, Chauncey with his fleet of fourteen 



BATTLE Db' STONE Y CREEK 173 

vessels set sail from Fort Niagara for the head of Lake On- 
tario. He had on board three hundred regulars under 
Colonel Winfield Scott which, with the men who manned his 
fleet, more than one thousand in number, made a very respect- 
able force. Fortunately Colonel Harvey had been informed 
of the design of the Americans, and ordered Lieutenant- 
Colonel Battersby, who commanded a detachment of the 
Glengarry Regiment at York, to march with his whole force 
to the relief of Maule. He had not arrived when Chauncey 
and Scott got to Burlington Bay, but the prospect of his 
coming was quite sufficient to prevent any attempt being 
made on the depot of provisions. Five hundred Americans 
who had landed to attack Maule retired again to their vessels 
without firing a shot. It was thought that glory might be 
won at a cheaper rate by a raid upon York which was entirely 
bare of troops, so sail was at once set for that place. 
On the thirty-first Chauncey's fleet entered York harbour 
and Colonel Scott landed his troops without opposition, as 
the militia were still bound by their parole. Scott's party 
opened the gaol and liberated the prisoners, including three 
soldiers confined for felony. They then went to the hospitals 
and paroled the few men there who could not be removed. 
They next entered the stores of some of the inhabitants and 
seized their contents, chiefly flour, the same being private 
property. The next day they again landed and sent three 
armed boats up the Don in search of public stores, but being 
disappointed in this, they set fire to the small barracks, wood- 
yard and storehouse on Gibraltar Point, and sailed away at 
daylight on the second of August. The only property they 
obtained in this raid was owned by private parties, the public 
stores having been removed to a place of safety, and the only 
prisoners secured were felons and invalids. The principal 
inhabitants of the town knowing that neither their non- 
belligerent character nor the protection of a parole would 
save them from insult, had wisely retired when the enemy 
appeared. The amount of plunder obtained at York was 
scarcely greater than the amount of glory won. It was little 



174 THE WAR OF 1812 

to the credit of the Americans that, having fully eight hun- 
dred men available for an attack on Major Maule's weak 
detachment, they should have abandoned their attempt 
against him without a shot being fired and gone off on a 
stealing expedition to York. 

In singular contrast to the timid conduct of Chauncey and 
Scott on this occasion, was the bold enterprise of Colonel 
Murray the same week on Lake Champlain. The Americans 
held command of this lake when the war commenced, and 
were thus enabled to transport their men and stores to the 
very frontier of Canada without any possibility of the British 
hindering their movements. In the spring of 1813 they had 
on the lake two armed sloops, the Growler and the Eagle each 
mounting eleven guns, and six galleys momiting one gun 
each. The British had a fortified post at Isle Aux Noix on 
the Richelieu River, thirteen miles from the boundary line, 
which was garrisoned by detachments of the 13th and 100th 
Regiments under the command of Major George Taylor of 
the latter corps. There were also three gunboats at Isle 
Aux Noix, which had been built at Quebec and transported 
overland to the Richelieu. Early on the morning of the 
third of June, the Growler and the Eagle were seen in the river 
near Isle Aux Noix. Major Taylor at once got his three 
gunboats ready, manned them with Canadians and an artil- 
leryman for each vessel, and sent them against the enemy, 
while he set out with a small detachment of regulars in boats. 
The soldiers were landed on both sides of {he river, and from 
its banks they kept up u galling fire on the enemy's vessels 
while the gunboats pounded them from a distance. After 
a conflict which lasted about three hours, the Eagle was 
struck by a 24-pound shot which ripped a whole plank off 
the vessel so that she filled, and her crew ran her ashore. 
Lieutenant Sydney Smith who commanded the vessels, then 
surrendered. The American loss was one man killed and 
nineteen wounded. The British lost three men wounded, 
yet in the face of the official return of his loss made by Major 
Taylor, Lossing has the assurance to say, ''The loss of the 



BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 175 

British was niucli greater, proljably at least one hundred." 
The fact was that the total number of men engaged on the 
British side was only one hundred and eight, most of them 
being of the 100th Regiment. The capture of these vessels 
was a handsome achievement and highly important, for they 
carried between them two Columbian 18-pounders, ten long 
6-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronatles. Their united 
crews numbered one hundred and twelve men. 

The captured sloops, which were re-named the Chubb and 
Finch, gave the British the ascendency on the lake, and 
rendered possible an important enterprise against the Ameri- 
can frontier towns, where large depots of provisions had been 
gathered and barracks built for the use of the army of in- 
vasion. On the thirty-first of July, the same day that 
Scott and Chauncey appeared at York, Colonel J. Murray 
landed with a British force at Plattsburg. He had with 
him nine hundred rank and file of the 13th, 100th and 103rd 
Regiments, which he had embarked at Isle Aux Noix on 
board the Chubb and the Finch, the three gunboats and a num - 
ber of bateaux. The militia force at Plattsburg, numbering, 
according to some accounts, four hundred men, and according 
to others one thousand five hundred, under General Mooers, 
ran away the instant the British landed, without firing a 
shot. Murray at once destroyed the enemy's arsenal and 
blockhouse, commissary buildings and stores at Plattsburg, 
and also the extensive barracks at Saranac capable of con- 
taining four thousantl troops. The soldiers re-embarked 
next day carrying off with them a large quantity of naval 
stores and shot, and equipment for bateaux. From Platts- 
burg, Murray went to Swanton on Missisquoi Bay where the 
barracks and stores and a number of bateaux were destroyed. 
A detachment was also sent to the town of Champlain, where 
the barracks and blockhouses were burnt. Captain Everard 
of the Wasp, then lying at Quebec, who had volunteered for 
this service with Captain Bring, had in the meantime crossed 
the lake with the Chubb and Finch and a gunboat to Burlington, 
which is about twenty miles from Plattsburg. There General 



176 THE WAR OF 1812 

Wade Hampton was stationed with an army of four thousand 
regulars intended for the invasion of Canada, and there also 
was Commodore Macdonough with three armed sloops, two 
of them ready for sea. The American commodore had also 
two gun schooners lying under the protection of a 10-gun 
battery, and two armed bateaux, yet with all this formidable 
force neither he nor General Hampton made any attempt to 
interfere with the British in their operations. Captain 
Everard destroyed four vessels at Burlington and its vicinity, 
without any attempt on the part of the enemy to prevent it, 
and then returned to the foot of the lake. This well con- 
ducted enterprise resulted in the destruction of an enormous 
amount of public property, and was effected without the loss 
of a single life, thanks to the extreme prudence of General 
Mooers' militia and of General Wade Hampton and his 
army. 

After Chaimcey's second raid upon York he deemed himself 
strong enough to dispute the command of Lake Ontario with 
Sir James Yeo. As the safety of Canada largely depended 
on the British fleet being able to traverse the lake with troops 
and supplies, the struggle for preponderance on this great in- 
land waterway became extremely important. The Americans 
had many points in their favour in the fact that with 
their larger population they could obtain the services of a 
greater number of workmen and sailors, and thus build 
their ships and man them more readily. They were also 
nearer their base of supplies than the British, so that Sir 
James Yeo had heavy odds to contend against and is entitled 
to a great deal of credit for being able to maintain himself 
on the lake at all. There never was a time when Chauncey 
offered him battle that the American commander was not 
greatly superior in numbers, and therefore Sir James, as a 
rule, wisely refused to risk everything in a decisive engage- 
ment. It would have been the height of folly to do so where 
so much was at stake, and where some trifling accident might 
have involved the loss of all. 

When Chauncey appeared on Lake Ontario at the beginning 



BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 177 

of August he had fourteen vessels, two ships, the Pike and 
the Madison, the Oneida, a brig, and eleven schooners. This 
fleet measured two thousand five hundred and seventy-six 
tons, carried one hundred and twelve guns, was manned by 
nine hundred and eighty men and threw one thousand three 
hundred and ninety-nine pounds of metal at a broadside. 
Sir James Yeo had six vessels; two ships, the Wolfe and the 
Royal George, the Melville and the Moira, brigs, and two 
schooners. Their aggregate tonnage was two thousand and 
ninety-one tons, their guns numbered ninety-two, their crews 
seven hundred and seventy, and their broadside weight of 
metal one thousand three hundred and seventy-four pounds. 
These figures on their face would show the American fleet to 
be one-fourth superior to the British in tonnage and number 
of men, and but slightly superior in weight of metal. But the 
figures only show part of the truth. To quote an American 
writer, Mr. Roosevelt: "The Americans greatly excelled in 
the number and character of their long guns." They threw 
at a broadside eight hundred and six pounds of long gun metal 
and five hundred and eighty four pounds of carronade metal, 
while the British only threw from their long guns one hundred 
and eighty pounds and from their carronades one thousand 
one hundred and ninety-four pounds. If Mr. Roosevelt's 
suggestion that a long 12-pounder is equal to a 32-pounder 
carronade be correct, then the American fleet was superior 
in broadside weight of metal as five is to three, or doubly 
superior if tonnage and number of men are taken into ac- 
count. This superiority, however, was more marked in 
calm weather than in rough, for the schooners, each of which 
carried a very heavy gun, were not so effective in a seaway as 
when the water was smooth. 

The two fleets first caught sight of each other on the seventh 
of August, off the Niagara River, and their commanders 
went through a series of manoeuvres so as to engage with 
advantage. Early on the morning of the eighth a heavy 
squall struck both fleets and two of the American schooners 
capsized and foundered, both the crews being drowned except 



178 THE WAR OF 1812 

sixteen men who were picked up by the boats of the British 
fleet. It is quite Uke the unreUable Lossing to say of this 
accident: '' This was a severe blow to the lake service, for these 
two vessels, carrying nineteen guns between them were of the 
best of it." This is the same as saying that the Hamilton 
and the Scourge, each with crews of fifty men and throwing 
eighty pounds of metal at a broadside, were more powerful 
than the Pike with a crew of three hundred men and a 
broadside of three hundred and sixty pounds, or the Madison 
with two hundred men and a broadside of three hundred and 
sixty-four pounds. 

After much manoeuvring the two fleets came to an engage- 
ment on the evening of the tenth, the wind being from the 
south-west. Chauncey formed his fleet in two lines on the 
port tack with his larger vessels to leeward. Yeo approached 
from behind to windward in single column on the same 
tack. At eleven o'clock the weather line opened fire at a 
very long range, and a quarter of an hour later the action 
became general. In a few minutes the weather line broke up 
and passed to leeward, except the schooners Julia and Growler 
which tacked. Yeo cut off these vessels and captured them, 
while Chauncey with the rest of his fleet made all sail for 
Niagara. The Julia and the Growler were each about eighty 
tons, carried eighty men between them, and had each a long 
32 and a long 12-pounder mounted on swivels. 

On the eleventh of September there was another partial 
engagement between the rival fleets at very long range, 
which was prevented from being decisive by the fact that 
Chauncey avoided close action. On the twenty-eighth the 
two squadrons again met off York, and a sharp combat ensued 
in which the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's flagship, lost her main- 
topmast and mainyard, and became too much disabled to 
manoeuvre, so she had to be put before the wind. Her 
retreat was ably protected by Captain Mulcaster in the 
Royal George. The British fleet ran into Burlington Bay 
where Chauncey did not venture to follow it. The 
American commodore, however, had some compensation 



BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK 179 

for his failure to dostroy the British fleet by his capture a 
few days hxter of five small vessels having on board two 
hundred and fifty men of De Watte ville's Regiment, on 
their way from York to Kingston. 

About the beginning of July, Major-General De Rotten- 
burg succeeded General Sheaffe as president of the Upper 
Province, and as such took the command of the troops from 
General Vincent. During the latter part of the same month 
he had pressed the enemy back, so that he had his head- 
quarters at the village of St. Davids, which is about eight 
miles from Fort George. His advance posts occupied a 
position not more than four miles from the American camp, 
but no movement of any importance took place in either 
army, unless the fruitless demonstration made by Sir George 
Prevost on the twenty-fourth of August is entitled to that 
designation. The commander-in-chief had arrived from 
Kingston a few days previously, and the ostensible object 
of the demonstration was to ascertain the extent of the 
enemy's works and the means they possessed of defending 
their position. The British drove in the enemy's pickets, 
and even gained possession of the town of Newark, but as 
General Boyd, who commanded at Fort George, declined 
to permit his troops to leave their intrenchments, nothing 
resulted from this advance, and the British forces were 
withdrawn to their works. One cause of the inactivity 
which prevailed on the Niagara frontier during the summer 
and autumn of 1813, was the great amount of sickness 
which existed in both camps owing to fever and ague, by 
which about one-third of the men were prostrated. This 
malady not only hindered active operations about Fort 
George, but also seriously delayed another important enter- 
prise which General Wilkinson had planned, involving 
nothing less than the capture of Montreal. 



CHAPTER XII 

Procter's defeat ox the Thames 

It is now time to turn to the operations of the right divi- 
sion of the army of Upper Canada under Major-General 
Procter. After the failure to capture Fort Meigs there 
was a considerable period during which the army remained 
inactive at Sandwich awaiting reinforcements. There Proc- 
ter was joined by a part of the remaining effective strength 
of the 41st Regiment, and, as he had a large body of Indians 
with him, it was determined to begin active operations 
against the American north-western army. The necessity 
for this step was one of the penalties which the Indian alliance 
imposed on the British. It is obvious that, considering the 
very limited force that could be spared for the occupation of 
the Detroit frontier, and the enormous difhculties involved 
in the transportation of supplies to the army there, a defen- 
sive campaign was the one best suited to the circumstances of 
the case. But the Indians were not satisfied to conduct a 
merely defensive war, and in order to retain their friendship 
it became necessary for Procter to agree to attack the enemy 
in his own territory. There was a double disadvantage in 
this, for not only had such an attack to be made on ground 
which the enemy had selected for defensive purposes and 
fortified, but it had to be undertaken without the aid of the 
Indians themselves, who were utterly useless when a fort had 
to be assaulted. To the truth of this statement the numer- 
ous Indian wars that have been waged on this continent 
bear ample testimony. 

The North- West Indians particularly desired the reduction 
of Fort Meigs, and of Fort Stephenson on the Sandusky 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT OX THE THAMES 181 

River. This fort had been erected in the .siunnier of 1812, 
and consisted of a square picketed ench)sure three hundred 
feet long and one hundred and eighty wide. At thi'ee of the 
angles there were blockhouses, on one of which a 6-pounder 
was mounted. The pickets around the fort were from four- 
teen to sixteen feet in height, and outside of them was a dry- 
ditch twelve feet wide and eight feet tleep. As a further 
protection from assault each jjicket was armed at the top 
with a bayonet. Fort Stephenson was garrisoned by one 
hundred and sixty regulars under Major Croghan. General 
Harrison, who conmianded the American north-western 
army, had his headquarters at Seneca, nine miles from Fort 
Stephenson, where he had one thousantl two hunrlred regu- 
lars and a large force of militia under ^IcArthur and Cass. 
Fort Meigs had a garrison of about two thousand men. 

General Procter landed at the mouth of the Sandusky 
River on the first of August, with a detachment of the 41st 
Regiment numbering three hundred and sixty-eight officers 
and men, and twenty-three artillerymen. He had also two 
hundred Indians with him, the others under Tecumseh hav- 
ing gone off towards Fort Meigs. As Harrison's large army 
was but nine miles distant, this attack on Fort Stephenson 
with so small a force certainly showed a great deal of bold- 
ness, but its wisdom may well be doubted. On the morning 
of the second the British opened fire on the fort, at a distance 
of about two hundred yards, with two light 6-pounders and 
two 5^-inch howitzers. The guns were too light to produce 
any marked effect on the blockhouses, so dui'ing the same 
afternoon Procter ordered the works to be stormed. At 
five o'clock, Lieutenant-Colonel Short advanced directly 
against the north-west angle of the works with one hundred 
and eighty men of the 41st Regiment, while one hundred and 
sixty rank and file of the same regiment under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Warburton made a circuit through the woods to 
attack the fort from the south side. Short's storming party 
approached under a severe fire from the musketry of the 
garrison, but, nothing daunted, bravely pushed forward over 



182 THE WAR OF 1812 

the glacis and leaped into the ditch to cut away the pickets. 
At this instant the 6-pounder, which had been placed in the 
blockhouse on the north side of the fort so that its fire would 
sweep the ditch, was discharged with dreadful ejffect. It 
was loaded with slugs and when fired was only a few yards 
distant from the head of the column. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Short and Lieutenant Gordon were instantly killed, and with 
them more than twenty privates, while a still greater num- 
ber were wounded. The brave survivors rallied and again 
advanced, but it was found that the ditch was so completely 
commanded, both by the cannon and the musketry of the 
enemy, that success was impossible. The assaulting column 
retired with as many of their wounded as they were able to 
remove. The column under Lieutenant-Colonel Warburton 
did not reach the south side of the fort until the first 
attack had failed, and, therefore, there was nothing for it 
but a retreat. 

In this affair the British loss amounted to twenty-six 
killed, twenty-nine wounded and missing, and forty-one 
wounded and brought away, a total of ninety-six. The 
American loss, according to their own accounts, was but one 
killed and seven wounded. Among the British officers 
wounded were Captains Muir and Dixon and Lieutenant 
Mclntyre. The Indians with Procter took no part in this 
attack, and, therefore, suffered no loss, although it was in 
deference to their wishes that the expedition had been under- 
taken. The attempt on Fort Stephenson was abandoned 
and General Procter and his soldiers returned to Sandwich. 
The Americans were able to treat this repulse of the British 
as an unparalleled exploit and to exalt Croghan almost to 
the level of Hannibal. But this extravagance of praise 
brought in this, as in other cases, its owm punishment, for it 
led to Croghan being afterwards entrusted with a separate 
command in which he proved himself grossly incompetent, 
and very far from being either a hero or a military genius. 

The result of the operations in the North-West had 
shown that nothing effective could be accomplished by the 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT OX THE THAMES 183 

Americans uiiloss the coininand of Lake Erie could be ob- 
tained. The British had the armed ship Queen Charlotte, 
the brig Hunter and one or two smaller vessels on this lake 
when the war broke out, and they should have had no dif- 
ficulty in maintaining the ascendency there, had proper 
measures been adopted. But, while the Americans were 
bending all their energies to the equipment of a fleet power- 
ful enough to drive the British from the lake, there was no 
corresponding activity on the British side. In February, 
1813, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, of the United States 
navy, was appointed to the connnand of the American fleets 
on Lake Erie and the Upper Lakes, to act under Commodore 
Chauncey. The nucleus of a fleet already exisled in the 
brig Caledonia, which, as we have seen, was captured in the 
autumn of 1812, and in the schooners Somers, Tigress and 
Ohio, and the sloop Tri,ppe, purchased from private parties. 
These vessels could not get out of the Niagara River while 
the British held that frontier, but the brief period during 
which the Americans possessed it, after the capture of Fort 
George, enabled them to be tracked up to the lake and 
taken to Presqu'ile, and Erie. There three other schooners, 
the Ariel, Scorpion and Porcupine had been built, and two 
20-gun brigs were under construction. On the tenth of July 
all these vessels were ready for sea, but they were unable to 
get out of the harbour of Erie because of the British fleet. 
There were only seven feet of water on the bar at the entrance 
to this harbour, so the heavy brigs could not go out with 
their armament on board, and consequently a comparatively 
small British force was able to keep them imprisoned and 
paralyze their strength. 

The British connnander on Lake Erie was Captain Robert 
Heriot Barclay of the Royal Navy, who with nineteen sea- 
men had been sent up from Halifax in the spring of 1813. 
Barclay was a brave officer who had lost an arm under 
Nelson at Trafalgar, but, unfortunately for Canada, he does 
not seem to have learned from his heroic chief the great 
lesson that strict attention to duty is quite as essential to 



184 THE WAR OF 1812 

an officer as courage. Nelson, when at the very height of 
his fame, when his name was honoured and feared through- 
out the civihzed world, did not deem it beneath him to en- 
gage in the routine work of a blockade, and watched the 
port of Toulon so closely that for one year and ten months 
he never put a foot ashore. Captain Barclay showed no 
such constancy in blockading Erie, but varied the monotony 
of this work by visits to Amherstburg and other places on 
the coast. The Americans noticed Barclay's lack of per- 
severance in the discharge of his duties and resolved to take 
advantage of it. At Amherstburg there was a pretty widow 
of an officer of some rank who was very anxious to get 
to York. Captain Barclay offered her a passage down the 
lake in his ship, conveyed her to Port Dover, and then 
escorted her to the residence of Dr. Rolph. Barclay was 
invited to a dinner there the following day and waited over 
to attend it. When he got back to Erie, after an absence 
of more than three days from his post, the American brigs 
were over the bar and the control of the lake had passed 
from his hands. During his absence the vessels had been 
brought out of port by means of a "camel," improvised 
out of two large scows. Once on the lake with their arma- 
ment on board they were too powerful to be successfully 
opposed, and Barclay had to retire to Amherstburg. 

At Amherstburg the British had built a small ship for 
Barclay's fleet, but owing to the neglect of Sir George Pre- 
vost the guns intended for her had not arrived from Lake 
Ontario, and, of course, with the Americans in command of 
the lake, could not now be conveyed to Amherstburg. The 
Indians had flocked to that place in such numbers that the 
supplies intended for the British army rapidly disappeared, 
and starvation stared both krmy and navy in the face. 
Nothing remained but to arm the new ship with the guns of 
the fort, a make-shift only to be justified by the necessities 
of the case. The result of this was that the new vessel, 
which was named the Detroit, had six different classes 
of guns on board when she went into action, and these 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT ON THE THAMES 185 

guns were of four different calibres. She carried two long 
24's and one short 24, a long and a short 18, six long 12's 
and eight long 9's. So deficient was her equipment that 
her guns had to be fired by flashing pistols at their touch- 
holes. Yet it was necessary that the British fleet, of which 
this miserably provided vessel was the flagship, should go 
out to meet a very superior and thorouglily equipped enemy. 
Sir George Prevost had been no more diligent in providing 
Barclay with crews than in supplying him with guns for his 
vessels. When he arrived at Amherstburg he had nineteen 
sailors with him, and three days before the battle with 
Perry's fleet he was joined by thirty-six more sailors which 
had come up from H. M. S. Dover. There were one hundred 
and two Canadian sailors in the fleet, and, to complete the 
number necessary to man the guns, two hundred and fifty 
officers and men of the 41st Regiment were taken on board. 
The total number on board Barclay's vessels and available for 
duty was therefore four hundred and seven, supposing none 
to be on the sick list, but as many were sick the effective 
force was much reduced. There were five hundred and 
thirty-two men on board Perry's fleet, including a con- 
siderable proportion of >sick. Of the total, three hundred 
and twenty-nine were seamen, one hundred and fifty-eight 
marines or soldiers and forty-five volunteers. If the latter 
were all sea-faring men, as is probable. Perry had about two 
and one-half times as many sailors in his fleet as Barclay. 
The strength of the two fleets in guns is shown by the fol- 
lowing table : — 

American Fleet British Fleet 

Weight of Broadside. Weight of Broadside. 
Lawrence 300 lbs. Detroit 138 lbs. 



Niagara 300 

Caledonia 80 

AHel 48 

Scorpion 64 

Somers 56 

Porcupine 32 

Tigress 32 

Trippe 24 



Queen Charlotte 189 

iMdy Prevost 75 

Hunter 30 

Chippewa 9 

Little Belt 18 



936 lbs. 459 lbs. 



186 THE WAR OF 1812 

In weight of metal the American squadron was there- 
fore more than double the force of the British. During 
the engagement, however, both the Lawrence and Niagara 
substituted a long 12-pounder for a short 32 on the engaged 
side, so that the broadside of each was reduced in weight from 
three hundred pounds to two hundred and eighty pounds, 
and the total broadside of the fleet to eight hundred and 
seventy-six pounds. Of the American broadside, two hundred 
and eighty-eight pounds were from long guns and six hundred 
and eight pounds from carronades. Of the British broadside, 
one hundred and ninety-five pounds were from long guns and 
two hundred and sixty-four pounds from carronades. On this 
Mr. Roosevelt, almost the only American author who has 
attempted to give an honest account of this battle, very 
candidly says: — ''The superiority of the Americans in long 
gun metal was .therefore nearly as three is to two, and in 
carronade metal greater than two is to one. The chief 
fault to be found in the various American accounts is that 
they sedulously conceal the comparative weight of metal, 
while carefully specifying the number of guns. Thus Los- 
sing says: — 'Barclay had thirty-five long guns to Perry's 
fifteen, and possessed greatly the advantage in action at a 
distance;' which he certainly did not." We can see from 
this that some of the American accounts of this battle 
are unreliable, especially that of Lossing. Although Perry 
had but fifteen long guns, they were so mounted that 
all could be used in the battle, while Barclay could only 
employ nineteen of his thirty-five. And to show how false 
Lossing's statement above quoted is, it is only necessary to 
explain that Perry's fifteen long guns consisted of three 
32-pounders, four 24-pounders, and eight 12-pounders, while 
Barclay's nineteen were one 24, one 18, five 12's, seven 9's, 
four 6's, one 4 and one 2-pounder. The short guns or car- 
ronades used by Perry in the battle were nineteen 32-poun- 
ders; those used by Barclay were eight 24-pounders and six 
12-pounders. 

It was on the morning of the eighteenth of September 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT OX THE THAMES 187 

that the two fleets sighted each other. Perry had learned 
from his agents in Detroit of the extreme weakness of the 
British fleet and the stern necessity which had forced Bar- 
clay to risk an engagement with his inferior force. Yet, 
with the assurance of victory which his twofold superiority 
gave him, Perry thought it necessary to increase the im- 
portance of his anticipated triumph by resorting to demon- 
strations of a theatrical character. He had a large flag 
prepared for his ship with the alleged dying words of Captain 
Lawrence, ''Don't give up the ship," printed upon it, and 
in imitation of Nelson he called together the ofhcers of his 
squadron to give them instructions with regard to the ex- 
pected action. As the officers were leaving, he said : "Gen- 
tlemen, remember your instructions. Nelson has expressed 
my idea in the words, 'If you lay your enemy close along- 
side you cannot be out of place,' good-night." Nelson 
expressing Perry's idea is something calculated to arouse 
the mirth of nations. 

The British fleet when sighted was off Put-in-Bay where 
Perry's vessels lay. The latter were soon under weigh and 
at ten o'clock the American squadron was approaching 
Barclay. The British commander had his ships arranged 
lying to in a close column heading to the south-west in the 
following order: Chippewa, Detroit, Hunter, Queen Char- 
lotte, Lady Prevost and Little Belt. The wind, which in the 
morning had been from the south-west, now shifted to the 
north-east, giving the Americans the weather guage, the 
breeze being very light. Perry came down with the wind 
on his port beam, and made the attack in column in the 
following order : ^neZ, Scorpion, Lawrence, Caledonia, Niagara, 
Somers, Porcupine, Tigress and Trippe. Perry's plan of 
attack embraced three separate combats and to show their 
nature and the chance the British had of winning a victory, 
it is necessary to specify them in detail. The Scorpion, 
Ariel, Lawrence, (Perry's flagship) and Caledonia were to 
attack the Chippewa, Detroit, (Barclay's flagship) and 
Hunter. The Niagara was to attack the Queen Charlotte, 



188 



THE WAR OF 1812 



and the Somers, Porcupine, Tigress and Trippe were to attack 
the 'Lady^Prevost and Little Belt. The force engaged in these 
combats was as follows: — 



VAN COMBAT 
American British 

Guns fought. Broadside. Guns fought. Broadside. 

Scorpion 1 long 32 ) 64 lbs. Chippewa, 1 long 9, 9 lbs. 

1 short 32 I 

48 lbs. Detroit, 



Ariel, 

Lawrence, 
Caledonia, 



1 short 32 / 
4 long 12's. 



2 long 12's \280 lbs. 

8short32's / 

2 long 24's ^ 80 lbs. 

1 short 32 i 



Hunter, 



19 guns. 472 lbs. 

CENTRE COMBAT 

Broadside. 



I long 18 
1 " 24 

3 " 12's 

4 " 9's 

1 short 24 

2 long 6's 
1 " 4 

1 " 2 
1 short 12 

16 guns. 



138 lbs. 



30 lbs. 



177 lbs. 



American British 

Guns fought. Broadside. Guns fought. Broadside. 

Niagara, 2 long r2's 1 280 lbs. Queen Charlotte, 
" 8 short 32'sj 



10 guns. 



American 

Guns fought. 

Somers, 1 long 24 ) 

" 1 short 32 j 

Porcupine, 1 long 32, 

Tigress, 1 long 32, 

Trippe, 1 long 24, 

5 guns. 



1 long 12 ) 
1 long 9 - 
7 short 24's) 



189 lbs. 



9 guns. 



REAR COMBAT 



British 



Broadside. 
56 lbs. 

32 lbs. 

32 lbs. 

24 lbs. 

144 lbs. 



Guns fought. 

Lndy Prevost, 

1 long 9 



Broadside. 



1 



Little Belt, 



1 long 6 J 
5 short 12's J 



1 long 12 
1 long 6 

9 guns. 



75 lbs. 

18 lbs. 
93 lbs. 



With these figures in view it is unnecessary to explain 
to the reader the nisarly threefold superiority of the Ameri- 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT ON THE THAMES 



189 



cans in the van combat, and the great preponderance of force 
they possessed in the other two. At 11.45 the Detroit com- 
menced the action by a shot from her long 24 which fell 
short; at 11.50 she fired a secontl which went crashing through 
the Lawrence and was replied to by the Scorpion's long 32. 
At 11.55 the Lawrence opened with both her long 12's and 
gradually drew nearer to the Detroit so that her heavy 
carronades might take effect. A great deal is said in Ameri- 









9VCC>I ClIAXiOTTe i,er fifty 



i/rrif oar 



■^x^^-.- ^ 



^ 



BATTLE 

or 

LAKE ERIE. 



-^ 






^^ 



-6S 



Plan of the BAxxMi of Lake Erie, Septembek 18th, 1813 



can accounts of the battle of the heavy loss sustained by the 
Lawrence, while approaching the Detroit, fiom (he long guns 
of the Chippeiva, Detroit and Hunter which threw one hun- 
dred and forty-one pounds at a broadside ; but the Detroit suf- 
fered quite as much at the same time from the long guns of 
the Scorpion, Ariel, Lawrence and Caledonia which threw 
one hundred and fifty-two pounds of metal at a broadside. 
When the Scorpion, Lawrence and Caledonia got within 
carronade range the three hundred and twenty pounds of 
metal which they threw from short guns was just ninefold 
superior to the thirty-six pounds thrown from similar guns 
by the Detroit and Hunter. 



190 THE WAR OF 1812 

At 12.30 the American four and British three ships of the 
van were furiously engaged, but the Niagara kept at such a 
respectful distance from her chosen antagonist, the Queen 
Charlotte, that the carronades of neither vessels could be 
used with effect. The latter, however, suffered greatly from 
the long guns of the American schooners and lost her com- 
mander. Captain Finnis and her first lieutenant, Mr. Stokoe, 
who were both killed early in the action. Her next in com- 
mand. Provincial Lieutenant Irvine, seeing that the Niagara 
avoided close action, passed the Hunter and took a station 
between that vessel and the Detroit. This made the con- 
test with the Lawrence and her three assailants more equal 
than it had been, and made the van combat a fight between 
four British vessels throwing two hundred and four pounds 
of metal from carronades and one hundred and sixty-two 
pounds from long guns, and four American vessels throwing 
three hundred and twenty pounds from carronades and one 
hundred and fifty-two pounds from long guns. The super- 
iority of the Americans in this combat in weight of metal 
was therefore about thirty per cent., without taking into 
account the two long 12's of the Niagara, which were 
directed against the Detroit and her consorts. If the 
Americans had won this combat, even with such odds in 
their favour, there might have been some shadow of excuse 
for the claims which they based on their victory, but, as 
they lost it, these claims must be pronounced false. 

The centre combat, as has been seen, failed by reason of 
the timidity of the captain of the Niagara, Jesse D. Elliott, 
the same person who was so much bepraised, and who re- 
ceived a vote of thanks from Congress and a sword for his 
gallantry in cutting out two British vessels at Fort Erie, 
in October, 1812. But the rear combat went on vigorously 
between the Somers, Porcupine, Tigress and Trippe with their 
five heavy guns, and the Lady Prevost and Little Belt with their 
nine light ones. The four American vessels kept at such a 
distance that the 12-pounder carronade of the Lady Prevost 
was almost useless, yet, to quote Mr. Roosevelt, she made 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT U.\ TliJ: THAMES 191 

"a very noble fight." It was obvious that in a contest 
at long range between three long 32's and two long 24's 
throwing one hundred and forty-four pounds of metal on 
the American side, and one long 12, one long 9 and two long 
6's throwing thirty-three pounds on the British side, the 
weaker party must suffer. The Ladij Prevost was greatly cut 
up, her commander Lieutenant Buchan being dangerously, 
and her acting first lieutenant severely wounded, and she 
began falling gradually to leeward. 

In the meantime the van combat was being carried on 
with great determination on both sides. The Americans 
fought bravely, but not so skilfully as the British. The 
Detroit on the one side and the Lawrence on the other were 
the centres of attack. The Detroit was frightfully shat- 
tered and had lost her first lieutenant, Mr. Garland, while 
Captain Barclay was so badly hurt that he was obliged to 
quit the deck, leaving the vessel in charge of Lieutenant 
George Inglis. But the Lawrence was in a still worse plight, 
her losses in killed and wounded had been frightful, one 
after another all the guns on her engaged side had been 
dismounted, and she was reduced to the condition of a hulk. 
At two o'clock Perry hauled down his "Don't give up the 
ship" flag, and started in a row boat for the Niagara, which, 
owing to the extreme prudence of her commander, had up 
to that time suffered hardly any loss. As soon as Perry 
left the Lawrence, Lieutenant Yarnall struck her flag, but as 
all the boats of the Detroit had been shot away she could 
not for the moment be taken possession of by the British. 

When Perry boarded the Niagara she was coming up 
towards the h?ad of the line with a fresh breeze. She was 
a new element brought into the contest. The American 
commander sent back Elliott to order up the schooners 
which were in the rear, and then stood towards the British 
van. The Detroit and Qneen Charlotte had their rigging too 
much disabled to tack, and, in attempting to wear, they fell 
foul of each other. The Niagara, which had previously 
delivered her broadside into the Chippewa, Little Belt and 



192 THE WAR OF 1812 

Lady Prevost to port, and the Detroit, Queen Charlotte and 
Hunter to starboard, now luffed athwart the bows of the 
Detroit and Queen Charlotte, and kept up a terrific discharge 
of cannon and musketry at half pistol range. They were 
at the same time raked by the Caledonia and the American 
schooners. As both vessels were totally disabled there was 
nothing left for them but to strike their colours. The 
Hunter and Lady Prevost did the same. The Chippewa and 
Little Belt tried to escape but were captured by the Trippe 
and Scorpion after a chase which lasted several hours. 
Thus the whole British fleet on Lake Erie was taken. 

The British lost in this battle forty-one killed, including 
Captains S. J. Garden and R. A. Finnis, and ninety-four 
wounded, including Captain Barclay and Lieutenants Stokoe, 
Garland, Buchan, Rolette and Bignall, in all one hundred 
and thirty-five. The Americans had twenty-seven killed 
and ninety-six wounded, of whom three died, a total of 
one hundred and twenty-three. The fault of Barclay in 
raising the blockade of Erie long enough to allow the Ameri- 
cans to get out of port was an enormous one, almost a crime, 
but in the action he proved himself a brave and skilful com- 
mander. No Briton or Canadian need feel ashamed of the 
battle of Lake Erie. The Americans won it, indeed, but 
the honours rested with the defeated party. Roosevelt, 
although writing as an American, says: "Were it not for 
the fact that the victory was so complete it might be said 
that the length of the contest and the trifling disparity of 
loss reflected rather the most credit on the British." In 
another place he says: "The simple truth is that where on 
both sides the officers and men were equally brave and 
skilful, the side which possessed the superiority of force, in 
the proportion of three to two, could not help winning." 
It has been already shown that the proportion of force in 
favour of the Americans, instead of being three to two was 
really two to one. The Chippewa with her single long 9 
and the Little Belt with her long 12 and long 6 in broadside 
were not worthy to be called vessels of war, and were wholly 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT OX THi: THAMES 193 

unfit to be placed in line of battle. Nor was the Hunter 
which had no long gun heavier than a 6, and which carried 
such pop-guns as 4's and 2's, much better off. The only 
vessels which Barclay had that were fit for combat, were the 
Detroit and Queen Charlotte, and the former, as we have 
seen, went into battle armed with make-shift guns, taken 
from a fortification, of four different calibres and six different 
classes. Had she been provided with the armament in- 
tended for her, which did not arrive at Burlington Heights 
from Kingston until after she was captured, she would have 
carried ten short 24's and two long 12's and her broadside, 
instead of being one hundred and thirty-eight pounds, would 
have been two hundred and fifty-two pounds, or almost double. 
Had she been so armed, the result of the contest would have 
been very different ; the Laurence would have been com- 
pelled to strike an hour earlier than she did, and the Niagara 
would have been beaten off or captured. 

It is admitted that but for the Niagara, the American 
fleet would have been utterly defeated, and the proof of it 
lies in the fact that the Lawrence had struck her flag. As 
Roosevelt says: "Perry made a headlong attack; his 
superior force, whether through his fault or misfortune 
can hardly be said, being brought into action in such a man- 
ner that the head of the line was crushed by the inferior 
force opposed. Being literally hammered out of his own 
ship, Perry brought up its powerful twin sister, and the 
already shattered hostile squadron was crushed by sheer 
weight." That the British vessels were not utterly help- 
less when the Niagara attacked them is shown by the loss 
suffered by that ship in the last few minutes of the battle, 
which amounted to two killed and twenty-five wounded. 
Indeed, but for the accidental fouling of the Detroit and 
Queen Charlotte, due to their unrigged condition, which 
rendered them perfectly helpless against the Niagara's 
broadsides delivered from a raking position, it is doubtful 
whether either vessel would have been under the necessity 
of striking despite the enormous losses both had suffered. 

13 



194 THE WAR OF 1812 

With the Niagara out of the fight, then the victory would 
have been Barclay's, and without this vessel the American 
fleet would still have been superior to the British by one- 
third, as may be seen by the following comparative state- 
ment: 

Broadside Weight of Metal. 

From long guns. From carronades. Total. 

Perry's fleet without Magrara 264 lbs. 352 lbs. 616 lbs. 

Barclay's fleet 195 " 264 " 459 " 



Difference in favour of Perry's .. 69 lbs. 88 lbs. 157 lbs. 

Here we have a difference in favour of the Americans of 35 
per cent, in long gun metal, and yet with this superiority 
the Americans were beaten until the staunch and uninjured 
Niagara was brought into action. No account is here taken 
of the damage done by the Niagara during her two hours and 
a half cannonade of the British ships with her two long 12's, 
in the first part of the battle. In view of such facts and figures 
as these, how absurd seems all the boasting of the Americans 
over Perry's victory. 

The result of Perry's victory was to leave the whole coast 
of the western peninsula exposed to invasion, and to cut off 
Procter's army from its base of supplies. General Harrison 
was gathering troops for another attack on Detroit and Maiden 
and it became evident that these places could not be held 
against the overwhelming forces of the enemy. The whole 
strength of the British right division under Procter was only 
eight hundred and seventy-seven men of all ranks, sick and 
well, or seven hundred and sixty rank and file, on the day after 
the battle of Lake Erie. Of the two hundred and fifty officers 
and men of his army on board the fleet, twenty-three had 
been killed, forty-nine wounded and the remainder taken pri- 
soners. 

On the twenty-fourth of September, General Harrison's 
army gathered at Put-in-Bay, and on the twenty-seventh, 
they embarked to the number of five thousand men on 
board the vessels of Perry's fleet, and landed the same day 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT OX THE TI1AM1:.S 195 

three or four miles l)elow Aiiiherstburg. General Procter had 
previously abaiuloued this phice and retired to Sandwich, first 
destroying Fort Maiden, which had been deprived of its guns 
to arm the Detroit. Harrison occupied Amherstburg the same 
evening, and on the following day advanced towards Sand- 
wich which he entered on the afternoon of the twenty-ninth. 
At the same time the American vessels reached Detroit. On 
the thirtieth, Colonel Johnson with his regiment of mounted 
infantry arrived there, raising the number of Harrison's army 
to six thousand men. Procter had retreated with his little 
force to the Thames, and made a temporary stand at Dalsen's 
farm, about fifteen miles from the mouth of the river and 
fifty-six miles from Detroit by water. Besides his white 
troops, Procter had with him about one thousand two hun- 
dred Indians under Tecumseh. 

On the second of October, Harrison started in pursuit of 
Procter. According to his own official letter he had with him 
" about one hundred and forty of the regular troops, Johnson's 
mounted regiment and such of Governor Selby's volunteers as 
were fit for a rapid march, the whole amounting to about 
three thousand five hundred men." He also had with him, 
although he does not mention the fact in his letter, about two 
hundred and sixty Wyandot, Shawanese and Seneca Indians 
under Chiefs Lewis, Black Hoof and Black Snake. Harrison's 
baggage, provisions and ammunition were carried up the 
Thames by water in three of Perry's gunboats. On the third 
some of Harrison's men captured a lieutenant and eleven rank 
and file of a troop of provincial dragoons belonging to Proc- 
ter's army, who had just connnenced the destruction of a 
bridge over a small tributary of the Thames. The same 
evening Harrison's army encamped about four miles below 
Dalsen's. On the fourth the pursuit was continued. At 
Chatham a skirmish took place with some Indians who had 
partially destroyed a bridge near the creek, in which the latter 
lost thirteen killed, and the Americans eight or nine killed and 
wounded. The Indians were driven away, the bridge re- 
paired and the Americans crossed. Here Walk-in-the-Water, 



196 THE WAR OF 1812 

the Wyandot chief who had deserted Procter, met Harrison 
with sixty warriors and offered to join the Americans. He 
was sent back to Detroit. Just above Chatham one of Proc- 
ter's boats laden with arms and stores was found on fire, and 
four miles farther up, at Bowles's Farm, two other boats par- 
tially consumed and similarly laden were also found. Here 
two 24-pounders were taken. 

On the morning of the fifth, Harrison's army captured two 
British gunboats with several bateaux laden with army sup- 
plies and ammunition. These vessels had on board one hun- 
dred and forty-four officers and men of the 41st Regiment, and 
thirty men of the Newfoundland Regiment and 10th Royal 
Veteran Battalion. This last misfortune, by depriving Proc- 
ter of his ammunition and supplies, rendered it necessary for 
him to make a stand and risk an engagement with a vastly 
superior enemy. He took up a position on the right bank of 
the Thames which protected his left. His whole effective 
force of white troops had been reduced to four hundred and 
seventy-six of all ranks, of which four hundred and eight were 
of the 41st Regiment. There were thirty-eight Provincial 
Dragoons, and thirty men of the Royal Artillery with six 
guns, 3 and 6-pounders. With this small body of white troops 
there were five hundred Indians, all the others having deserted 
in the course of the retreat. 

General Procter arranged his little army for battle with a 
good deal of skill. The men of the 41st Regiment were drawn 
up in open files in a beech forest without any undergrowth. 
Their right rested on a small swamp which ran parallel with 
the river. Further to the right was a larger swamp and in 
front of it a forest of a thicker growth. Along the margin of 
this the Indians were posted, their line forming an obtuse 
angle with the British drawn up in front. Behind the 41st 
Regiment were the 38th Provincial Dragoons. A 6-pounder 
enfiladed the only road by which the Americans could ad- 
vance. The five other guns which Procter had with him had 
been stationed on an eminence near Moravian Town, two 
miles from the field of battle, in order to guard a ford there. 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT ON THE THAMES 197 

They would have l)een much better phiced if used to protect 
the British front in tiie battle. 

Harrison's attacking force consisted of "something above 
three thousand men" according to his own official report. 
No doubt the number was greater than he states, for he enu- 
merates five brigades of Kentucky volunteers, one hundred 
and twenty regulars of the 27th U. S. Regiment, and 
Colonel Johnson's mounted infant ly regiment, which was 
about one thousand strong. The matter is not of much conse- 
quence for, according to his own showing, Harrison had more 
than three times as many troops as the British and Indians 
combined, without counting his own two hundred and sixty 
savages. Three brigades of volunteer infantry, aggregating 
one thousand five hundred men, were placed by Harrison in 
three lines, with their right on the river and their left on the 
swamp. These were under the command of Major-General 
Henry. Two other brigades numbering about one thousand 
men, comprising General Desha's command, were formed en 
potence on the left of Henrj^'s conmiand so as to hold the In- 
dians in check, and prevent a flank attack. Colonel Johnson's 
mounted regiment was placed in front of Henry, formed in 
two columns. The regulars of the 27th Regiment were 
posted betw(*en tlu^ road and the river to seize the British 
6-pounder, while the Indians with Harrison were to gain 
stealthily tiie British rear and by their attack convey to them 
the impression that their own Indians had turned against 
them. Counting Major Suggett's two hundred mounted spies, 
which led the advance as cavalry, the rank and file of both 
armies was as follows: — 

Infantry. 

American 2,620 

British 3.56 

Harrison had intended that the attack should be made by 
his infantry, but the intelligence which he received that the 
British were formed in open order decided him to order John- 
son to charge with his mounted riflemen. ''The measure," 



Cavalry. 


Indians. 


Total. 


1,200 


260 


4,080 


38 


500 


894 



198 



THE WAR OF 1812 



says Harrison in his official despatch, "was not sanctioned by 
anything that had been seen or heard of, but I was fully con- 
vinced that it would succeed. The American backwoodsmen 
ride better in the woods than any other people. A musket 
or a rifle is no impediment, they being accustomed to carry 
them on horseback from their earliest youth. I was per- 
suaded, too, that the enemy would be quite unprepared for 
the shock and that they could not resist it." General Har- 
rison was quite right in his conjecture. As Johnson with his 
one thousand two hundred mounted men advanced, they 
received two volleys from the British infantry which threw 
them into some confusion; but immediately after the second 
fire the cavalry charged with such overwhelming force as to 







PLAN OF 
BATTLE 

OF THE 

THAMES 







Battle of Moravian Town, October, 1813 



break the British line. The men of the 41st were thrown 
into such disorder by this sudden attack, that they could 
not be rallied, and most of those who were not killed or 
wounded were made prisoners. General Procter and his staff 
with the Provincial Dragoons sought safety in flight. The 



PUUCTER'S DEFEAT OX THE THAMES 199 

Indians on the Amorican left flank made a desperate effort 
to retrieve the fortunes of the day, but were finally defeated 
by overwhelming numbers and forced to retire, bearing with 
them the dead body of their leader, Tecumseh. They left 
thirty-three dead on the field of battle. The British lost 
twelve killed and twenty-two wounded, and, including the 
latter, four hundred and seventy-seven were taken prisoners 
on the day of the battle. These prisoners included one 
hundred and one officers and men in the hospital at Moravian 
Town, and most of the sixty-three officers and privates of the 
41st Regiment in attendance upon them or on duty with the 
baggage. The total loss suffered by the British right divis- 
ion in the retreat from Amherstburg and in the battle was 
six hundred and thirty-one officers and men. The Ameri- 
cans lost in the battle fifteen killed and thirty wounded. 
They had won a notable victory at little cost and their gen- 
eral endeavoured to make the most of it. By concealing the 
fact that five of the six guns he captured were not in the 
battle at all, and also that a large proportion of his prisoners 
were invalids in the hospital, he was able to give still greater 
weight to the affair. Such tricks as these may pass without 
comment, but w'hen Harrison claims for his troops "the palm 
of superior bravery,'' and casts reflections on the British for 
not being ''magnanimous enough" to bring the flag of the 
41st Regiment into the field "or it would have been taken*,'' 
he shows himself the pretender that he was. The fact that 
twelve days after the battle General Procter had assembled 
at Ancaster two hundred and forty-six officers and men of his 
defeated army, shows that there was abundance of force to 
take care of the regimental flag. 

Sir George Prevost,in a general order, passed a very severe 
censure on the right division for the defeat on the Thames, 
speaking of its "well earned laurels tarnished and its con- 
duct calling loudly for reproach and censure." If Sir George 
Prevost had attended to his duty as commander-in-chief the 
right division would have been kept properly supplied and 
reinforced, the command of Lake Erie would have been re- 



200 THE WAR OF 1812 

tained, and the army would not have been defeated. No 
regiment that fought in Canada during the war performed 
better service than the 41st, but a greater strain was put 
upon it than men could endure, and they finally suffered 
defeat. It is no new thing for a regiment, while formed in 
open order, to be broken by a sudden charge of cavalry. That 
happened at Quatre Bras to the 42nd Regiment, and also at 
Waterloo to another equally distinguished British regiment, 
yet these corps were not thereby supposed to have merited 
'' reproach and censure." General Procter was tried by 
court-martial at Montreal, in December, 1814, on five charges, 
and sentenced to be publicly reprimanded and to be sus- 
pended from rank and pay for six months. The court found 
'' that he did not take the proper measures for conducting 
the retreat; that he had, in many instances during the retreat 
and in the disposition of the force under his command, been 
erroneous in judgment, and in some ways deficient in those 
energetic and active exertions which the extraordinary dif- 
ficulties of his situation so particularly required." The court, 
however, acquitted him as to any defect or reproach in his 
personal conduct. It is easy to see at this day that Procter 
was unjustly condemned. His difficulties all had their origin 
in the presence of the Indians, who, while professedly a part 
of his force, came and went as they pleased and were the 
cause of his retreat being so long delayed. Had the Indians 
acted honestly by Procter and remained with him in their 
original numbers, the American army, instead of being vic- 
torious on the Thames, would have been destroyed. 

Harrison did not follow Procter after the battle but con- 
tented himself with burning Moravian Town. So terrified 
were the peaceful Christian inhabitants of this village that, 
as the Americans themselves testify, the squaws threw 
their infants into the river as they fled to prevent them from 
being butchered by the Americans. The Indians carried away 
the body of their chief, Tecumseh, but the barbarous Ken- 
tuckians found on the field a body which they took to be 
his, and mutilated it in a fashion that the worst savages 



PROCTER'S DEFEAT OX THE THAMES 201 

could not have surpassed. Strips of skin were torn from the 
limbs and were afterwards used by the Christian gentlemen 
who engaged in this disgusting work for razor strops. Yet 
Tecumseh had never injured a wounded man or a prisoner, 
but had invariably protected them from liis less humane 
brethren. 

Two days after the battle of the Thames, (Jeneral Harrison 
left for Detroit, and his army on the same day commenced 
moving in that direction. They arrived at Sandwich on 
the tenth, in the midst of a furious storm of wind and snow, 
during which several of the vessels from the Thames were 
injured and much of the captured property lost. Thus 
ended the campaign ; the Kentuckians returned home, and 
Harrison, with one thousand three hundred men, embarked 
for Buffalo to join the American army on the Niagara 
frontier. 



CHAPTER XIII 

CHATEAUGUAY AND CHRYSTLER's FIELD 

The appointment of General James Wilkinson to the 
command of the northern army of the United States in 
place of General Dearborn, has already been noticed. Wil- 
kinson was an old friend of Armstrong, the secretary of war, 
and the latter seems to have thought that the new com- 
mander would be a good instrument to carry out the plans 
he had formed for the invasion of Canada. These plans, 
which were approved by the government, involved the 
capture of Kingston and a descent from there to Montreal. 
Wilkinson offered some objections to this proposal which 
he deemed premature until more had been accomplished on 
the peninsula. Owing to this disagreement, when General 
Wilkinson arrived at Sacketts Harbour on the twentieth of 
August to take command of the army, no definite plan of 
operations had been determined upon, but at a council of 
officers held on the twenty-eighth it was determined to con- 
centrate at Sacketts Harbour all the troops in that depart- 
ment, except those on Lake Champlain, preparatory to 
striking "a deadly blow somewhere." 

This Lake Champlain army was the same that General 
Dearborn had assembled at Plattsburg twelve months before, 
and was under the command of General Wade Hampton. 
It consisted of more than four thousand infantry of the regu- 
lar army, a squadron of cavalry numbering one hundred 
and eighty men, a train of artillery of ten guns, and a body 
of New York state militia, which brought its total strength 
to about five thousand five hundred men. This formidable 
force, which formed the right wing of Wilkinson's army. 



CHATEAUGUAY AND CHRYSTLER'S FIELD 203 

went into camp at Chatoaufi;uay Four Corners, a few miles 
soutli of the Canadian line, on the twenty-fourth of Septem- 
ber and remained there awaiting orders. 

As Secretary Armstrong, in conse(|uence of the (hfference 
of opinion between them as to the i)hui of campaign, was 
led to distrust Wilkinson's judgment, lie went to Sacketts 
PIarl)our early in Sej)teml)ei' and established the seat of his 
department there. Such an unusual course appeared to be 
rendered necessary by the eccentric conduct of General 
TIam]")ton, who had refused to take orders from Wilkinson, 
claiming that his was a separate connnand. Armstrong was 
still bent on attacking Kingston, and it was not until the 
sixteenth of October, when it was learned that the place had 
been reinforced, that the j)roject was abandoned. The Bri- 
tish had received intelligence of the meditated movement 
and on the second of the same month Major-General De 
Rottenburg had left the Niagara frontier for Kingston with 
the 49th and 104th Regiments, by which movement Major- 
General A'incent again becauK^ commander on that line. To 
compensate in some measure for this reduction in force, the 
army on the Niagara frontier had been reinforced by the 
100th R(^giment. It was now agreetl by the war secretary 
and General Wilkinson that the attack should be made on 
Montreal, and that, while the latter with the main body of 
the army descended the St. Lawrence, General Hampton 
should advance down the Chat(^auguay River with his force 
and form a junction with A\'ilkiiison at Isle Perrot. 

The place selected for tiie concentration of Wilkinson's 
army was Grenadier Island, whicii is about fourteen miles dis- 
tant from Sacketts Harl)our and within four miles of the 
point where the St. Lawrence leaves Lake Ontario. The 
starting of the expedition had been delayed so long that the 
boats in which the troo))s were embarked were impeded l)y 
storms, fifteen of them were lost and many were damaged. 
Between the nineteenth and twenty-sixth of October all the 
troops reached Grenadier Island and were ready for active 
operations. The army thus assembled was the most for- 



204 THE WAR OF 1812 

midable in numbers that had yet been collected for the in- 
vasion of Canada, and, according to the American official 
accounts, consisted of more than eight thousand eight hun- 
dred men. There were four brigades of infantry, the first 
consisting of the 5th, 12th, and 13th Regiments under Gen- 
eral Boyd; the second of the 6th, 15th and 22nd Regiments 
under General Brown; the third of the 9th, 16th and 25th 
Regiments under General Covington; and the fourth of the 
11th, 14th and 21st Regiments under General Swartwout. 
There was a fifth brigade consisting of light troops, and three 
regiments of artillery with thirty-eight fieldpieces and a 
battering train of twenty pieces, under General Porter, be- 
sides two regiments of dragoons. This army remained on 
Grenadier Island until the first of November, with the ex- 
ception of Brown's brigade, some light troops and heavy 
artillery, which went down the St. Lawrence on the twenty- 
ninth of October and encamped at French Creek, near Clay- 
ton. This was done to cause the British to believe that 
Kingston was the point aimed at, so as to induce them to 
concentrate their troops there and uncover Montreal. 

At the time that Wilkinson's troops commenced to 
embark at Sacketts Harbour for Grenadier Island, orders 
were sent to General Hampton on the Chateauguay to move 
down that river with his army, towards the St. Lawrence. 
This he began to do on the twenty-first of October. The 
change of his line of advance into Canada, from the road 
from Champlain to La Colle, to that by Chateauguay, had 
rendered it necessary for Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry to 
adopt new measures of defence. That vigilant and active 
officer took up a position on the left bank of the Chateau- 
guay River at a point about six miles above the junction of 
the English River with the Chateauguay. The ground he 
occupied was a thick forest and its situation was favourable 
for defence. De Salaberry's left was protected by the river, 
which was unfordable except in one place just in the rear, 
where there was a rapid and the water was shallow. This 
ford was covered by a strong breastwork with a guard, and 




"• >'.2 

7. - 4) 



206 THE WAR OF 1812 

some distance from it in advance, on the right bank of the 
river, was a strong picket of the Beauharnois militia to pre- 
vent the enemy from stealing suddenly upon the ford under 
cover of the forest. De Salaberry had protected his front 
by temporary breastworks formed by trees which had been 
felled by his woodmen. These breastworks lined the banks 
of four deep ditches or ravines, which ran at right angles to 
the river. A mile and a half in advance of the outermost 
of these breastworks he had obstructed the road, which ran 
parallel to the river, with an abattis of trees. The working 
party engaged in this service had with it as a protection from 
any sudden attack, two subaltern detachments of the volti- 
geurs. The successful defence of this chosen position was 
in the highest degree important, for the country behind it 
to the mouth of the Chateauguay River was mainly open 
and cultivated, and might have been easily traversed by an 
invading army. Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry's whole 
force with which to guard this vital point did not exceed 
eight hundred rank and file. It consisted of the two flank 
companies of the Canadian Fencibles, four companies of 
voltigeurs, and six flank companies of embodied militia and 
Chateauguay chasseurs under Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, 
late of the Glengarry Regiment. There were also at the 
post one hundred and seventy-two Indians under Captain 
Lamotte. 

On the twenty-second of October the greater part of 
Hampton's army had crossed into Canada and encamped at 
Spear's, near the junction of the Outard with the Chateau- 
guay River. A road for the artillery was made through 
the woods and Hampton's ten guns were brought up to his 
camp. Beyond Spear's were seven miles of open country, 
and then commenced the tract of open forest in which De 
Salaberry had taken his stand. After making a reconnais- 
sance in which the ford on De Salaberry's left flank was 
discovered, Hampton on the evening of the twenty-fifth de- 
spatched Colonel Purdy with the 4th United States infantry 
and the light troops of the first brigade to force the ford and 



208 THE WAR OF 1812 

fall upon the British rear at dawn. It was arranged that as 
soon as Purdy's musketry was heard General Hampton and 
General Izard should make an attack in front with three 
thousand five hundred men. The morning of the twenty- 
sixth dawned and Hampton's troops stood to their arms 
but there came no sign from Purdy. That officer, owing to 
the ignorance or treachery of his guide, had lost his way in 
the woods, and could neither find the ford nor the place from 
which he had started. The forenoon was far spent before 
he reached the vicinity of the ford, and in the meantime 
General Izard had advanced with the main body of the 
army to the front of De Salaberry's position. The two 
subaltern detachments of the voUigeurs, which were charged 
with the duty of guarding the working-party, immediately 
retired to the abattis, after exchanging shots with the enemy, 
De Salaberry, in the meantime, had arrived with the light 
company of the Canadian Fencibles commanded by Captain 
Ferguson, and two companies of his voUigeurs commanded 
by Captains Jean Baptiste and Juchereau Duchesnay. He 
posted Captain Ferguson's company on the right in front 
of the abattis in extended order, a few Abenaquis Indians 
being placed in the woods on its right flank. To the left of 
the Fencibles, Jean Baptiste Duchesnay's company of voUi- 
geurs occupied the grounds in extended order to the river, 
while the other company of voUigeurs under Captain Juch- 
ereau Duchesnay and about thirty-five sedentary militia, 
were thrown en potence along the margin of the river for the 
purpose of checking the enemy in the event of its appear- 
ing on the opposite side. The whole force thus drawn up 
to oppose the enemy did not exceed two hundred and fifty 
rank and file. 

General Izard advanced with his three thousand five 
hundred men along the left bank of the river in open columns 
of sections, and wheeled his troops into line in front of the 
Canadians who opened a brisk fire. The Americans re- 
plied with battalion volleys, which, however, were for the 
most part ineffective. The Canadian skirmishers were 



CHATEAUGUAY AND CIIRYSTLERS FIELD 209 

driven back to the abattis, but beyond this not one inch of 
ground was gained by Izard's formidable force. The Ameri- 
cans, mistaking for a retreat the retirement of the skir- 
mishers to the main body, set up a shout of victory which was 
rephed to by one of defiance from the Canadians, and Colonel 
De Salaberry, at the same moment, ordered his bugler to 
sound the advance. This was heard by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Macdonell, who was with the reserves, and he, thinking De 
Salaberry was in need of support, caused his own buglers 
to answer, and advanced with two of his companies. At 
the same time he sent ten or twelve buglers into the adjoin- 
ing woods, who sounded the advance all along an extended 
line, and led the Americans to believe that they had a large 
army to contend with. This deterred them from making 
any further advance until Purdy's flank attack had been 
heard from. 

This flank attack did not prosper any more than that of 
General Izard on the Canadian front. Purdy's heavy force 
had succeeded in driving back about sixty Chateauguay 
chasseurs under Captain Bruycre, but they were speedily 
reinforced by the light company of the third battalion of 
embodied militia under Captain Daley, and the advance 
guard of the Americans was driven back. Purdy's detach- 
ment, however, was too powerful to be resisted by so small 
a body, and it was pressing along the right bank of the river 
in overwhelming numbers, when it received a heavy fire 
from Captain Juchereau Duchesnay's company of voUigeurs 
which lay concealed on the opposite bank of the Chateau- 
guay. The Americans were instantly thrown into the 
greatest confusion and fled into the woods. A few of them 
managed to swim across the river, and carried to General 
Hampton such alarming accounts of the enormous number 
of British and Canadians on the right bank of the river, 
that he immediately ordered a retreat. The rest of Purdy's 
men, frantic with terror, broke into scattered detachments, 
which, mistaking each other for the enemy, kejit uj^ a 
spirited engagement the most of the night. 



210 THE WAR OF 1812 

\The battle of Chateauguay was won by three hundred 
and eighty Canadians — most of them French-Canadians, 
against more than ten times their force of American regulars. 
The Canadian loss was only two killed, sixteen wounded and 
four missing. Lossing states the American loss at ''about 
fifteen killed and twenty-three wounded," but, as more 
than ninety dead bodies and graves were found on the right 
bank of the river after the battle, we are forced to the con- 
clusion that Lossing in this, as in many of his other state- 
ments, is not telling the truth. Twenty prisoners were also 
taken by the Canadians. Chateauguay was a sad blow to 
American pride. Major-General Wool, who was there, said 
long afterwards: ''No officer who had any regard for his 
reputation would voluntarily acknowledge himself as having 
been engaged in it." Colonel Purdy, in an official report of 
the affair which he wrote to Wilkinson, said that he and 
other officers believed that General Hampton was under 
the influence of a too free use of spirituous liquors. Yet 
Hampton's drunkenness on the left bank of the river would 
not account for Purdy's extraordinary failure on the right, 
which was the real cause of the disaster. Lossing endeavours 
to lessen the importance of Chateauguay by saying that 
"it has been unwarrantably dignified with the character of 
a battle." Yet the same Lossing calls Colonel Cass's affair 
at the river Aux Canards in which one Indian was scalped, 
' 'the first battle antl victory in the second war for indepen- 
dence." 

Hampton retired from Chateauguay to his camp at Spear's 
and three days later retreated with his whole force to Cha- 
teauguay Four Corners, harassed by the victorious Canadians 
and by the Indians under Captain Lamotte. On the eleventh 
of November another retrograde movement was made and 
Hampton retired to Plattsburg. Thus ended this formidable 
invasion of Lower Canada by the right wing of the army 
of the north. As an acknowledgment of the bravery of 
the embodied militia of Lower Canada in this and other 
engagements, the Prince Regent granted a pair of colours to 



CHATEAUGUAY AND CHRYSTLER'S FIEIJ) 211 

each of the five battahons, a mark of his approbation which 
was fully deserved and liighly appreciated. 

It is now time to return to Grenadier Island and French 
Creek, where Wilkinson's army of eight thousand men halted 
on the first of November in blissful ignorance of the defeat 
and retreat of Hampton. It should be understood by the 
reader that in all the operations which followed, down to the 
eve of the final abandonment of the expedition, Genend 
Wilkinson and his men were acting under the full hclict' 
that Hampton's army was advancing victoriously through 
Lower Canada to join them on the St. Lawrence. While 
General Wilkinson's army was being transported from Gren- 
adier Island to French Creek, Conmiodore Chauncey under- 
took to blockade the British in Kingston harbour. But in 
spite of his efforts, two brigs, two schooners and eight gun- 
boats got out and attacked the Americans at F'rench Creek 
on the afternoon of the first, and the forenoon of the second 
of November. It was not until the appearance of Chauncey's 
fleet that they retired. The Americans lost two killed and 
four wounded. The l^ritish vessels, although fired at with 
red-hot shot, sustained little or no damage. Wilkinson arrived 
at French Creek on the third, and on the morning of the fifth, 
just at dawn, the American army embarked in more than 
three hundred boats and scows, and, protected by twelve 
heavy gunboats, began to move down the St. Lawrence. 

The British up to this moment had been unable to discover 
whether the expedition was intended to attack Kingston, 
Prescott, or Montreal. Yet their vigilance was such that the 
instant the Americans left French Creek their enemies were in 
pursuit of them. A heavy armed British galley and several 
gunboats followed them and attacked their rear. The flotilla 
arrived at Morristown early the same evening, having been 
annoyed by the British gunboats all the way down. As the 
batteries of Fort Wellington at Prescott were considered too 
formidable to be passed in the day time, Wilkinson halted 
on the following day three miles above Ogdensburg, and 
landed his ammunition and all his troops except a sufficient 



212 THE WAR OF 1812 

number to man the boats. That night the boats ran past 
Fort Welhngton with Uttle loss, and again embarked the 
troops and ammunition at the Red Mill, four miles below 
Ogdensburg. 

On the seventh, Wilkinson landed Colonel Alexander Ma- 
comb with a select corps of one thousand two hundred men, 
and Lieutenant-Colonel Forsyth with his riflemen, at the 
head of the Gallops Rapids, to drive away the British from 
the prominent points of the river, and particularly from 
Matilda where the St. Lawrence is little more than five 
hundred yards wide. On the previous day. General Wilkin- 
son had addressed a proclamation to the people of Canada 
which is in a very different strain from that of Hull. In it 
he stated that he had invaded the Canadas to conquer, 
not to destroy, " to subdue the forces of His Britannic Ma- 
jesty, not to war against his unoffending subjects." He pro- 
mised protection to the persons and property of those who 
remained quietly at home. Only the old and feeble, how- 
ever, could be persuaded to do this, for the general in his 
official despatches complains of the " active universal hostility 
of the male inhabitants of the country." On the eighth, 
Wilkinson's army arrived at the White House, opposite 
Matilda, about eighteen miles below Ogdensburg, and here 
the general called a council of his officers, consisting of 
Generals Lewis, Boyd, Brown, Porter, Covington and Swart- 
wout. He had received a report from a spy employed by 
Colonel Swift which stated the number and position of the 
British forces to be — at Coteau du Lac, six hundred under 
Colonel Murray, strongly fortified with artillery; about three 
hundred artillery, but without ammunition, at the Cedar 
Rapids; two hundred sailors, four hundred marines, and a 
body of militia at Montreal, with no fortifications; and two 
thousand five hundred regulars daily expected from Quebec. 
The same agent also reported the number of the militia 
between Kingston and Quebec to be twenty thousand. 
Wilkinson stated his own force to be seven thousand non- 
commissioned officers and men, and put the question to the 



CHATEAUGUAY AND CilRVSTI.ER'S FIELD 213 

council as to whether the army should proceed to Montreal. 
This was answered in the affirmative by all the officers, 
the more readily as Hampton had been ordered to join them 
with his army at St. Regis, and it was fully expected he 
would be there by the time they reached that place. 

Macomb's detachment of one thousand two hundred men 
encountered no other opposition on the Canadian shore than 
that of about sixty militia, who, of course, were not numerous 
enough to seriously impede his march. But a British force 
was rapidly approaching which was destined to prove even 
more annoying to the Americans than the "teasing" British 
gunboats which hovered on their rear. The troops at Kings- 
ton, in the beginning of November, which were available for 
service down the St. Lawrence, were the 49th Regiment, 
and nine companies of the second battalion of the 89th. 
The former had arrived from the Niagara frontier a few days 
before, and its sadly reduced state from the sickness which 
had prevailed there may be inferred from the fact that 
when it left Queenston only sixteen of its fifty commissioned 
officers were fit for duty. On the fourth of November, the 
two flank companies of this regiment were pushed forward to 
Fort Wellington, and on the morning of the seventh, the re- 
mainder of the regiment, the nine companies of the 89th, a 
small detachment of artillery and two 6-pounders, set out in 
the same direction. This detachment, which was embarked 
in the schooners Beresford and Sidney Smith, seven gunboats 
and a number of bateaux, did not number more than five 
hundred and sixty rank and file. Captain Mulcaster, who 
commanded the flotilla, skilfully evaded Chauncey's blockad- 
ing squadron, and reached Fort Wellington on the eighth, 
the same day that Wilkinson held his council of war. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel J. W. Morrison of the 89th, who commanded 
this "Corps of Observation" was joined at Fort Wellington 
by the two flank companies of the 49th, detachments of the 
fencibles and voltigeurs, a few provincial dragoons and some 
militia artillery with a 6-pounder, in all two hundred and 
fortv rank and file. This reinforcement raised the strength 



214 THE WAR OF 1812 

of Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison's little army to eight hun- 
dred rank and file. 

At Fort Wellington Captain Mulcaster substituted bateaux 
for his two schooners, and on the ninth, landed Lieutenant- 
Colonel Morrison and his force at Point Iroquois, a short 
distance from Matilda. The British were now close on the 
heels of the American army, which was advancing down the 
St. Lawrence in boats and by land. That very morning 
General Brown had crossed to the Canadian shore with his 
brigade and the dragoons, to march down the river in con- 
nection with Colonel Macomb's detachment. A few hours 
later, when the British were discovered api>roaching, General 
Boyd was detached with his brigade to reinforce Brown, with 
orders to cover his march, and, if attacked by the pursuing 
British, "to turn about and beat them." On the same 
evening General Wilkinson's army halted at W^illiamsburg. 
The American commander-in-chief had learned that a for- 
midable British force was collected at the foot of the Long 
Sault, and on the morning of the tenth, General Brown was 
sent forward to dislodge them. This formidable force con- 
sisted of three hundred Dundas and Glengarry militia under 
Captain Dennis of the 49th, and thirty Indians. When this 
officer was apprised of Brown's approach, he took immediate 
measures to impede his progress by destroying the bridge 
over Hoop Pole Creek, and distributing his men in the thick 
woods on the opposite bank from which they maintained a 
severe fire on Brown's forces. The latter was thus delayed 
several hours in his advance, and time enough given for the 
removal of all the stores at Cornwall. In this skirmish the 
Americans lost several killed and wounded, but, although 
they used cannon, they did not succeed in inflicting any 
damage on the militia. 

While General Brown was thus engaged with the militia, 
General Wilkinson remained at Williamsburg awaiting in- 
telligence from him. About noon he heard Brown's artillery 
down the river, and at the same time was attacked by the 
British gunboats under Captain Mulcaster. Wilkinson was 



CHATEAUGUAY AND CHKVSTLLICri IIKLI) 



•215 



obliged to land two 18-pounders to resist this new danger, 
and most of the day was spent in disembarking and re-em- 
barking the heavy guns. Only two miles were made by the 
Americans that day, and in the afternoon Wilkinson's ves- 
sels anchored for the night just below Weaver's Point and 
almost opposite the farm of Mr. John Chrystler. General 
Boyd's force was also encamped close by. It was not until 
ten o'clock on the morning of the eleventh that any message 
was received from Brown. He had reached the foot of the 
Long Sault, but his troops had been drenched by the heavy 
rain and were obliged to pass the preceding night without any 
shelter. He asked that the boats with supplies be sent to 
him as speedily as possibl(\ and Wilkinson had given orders 




NOV? n. 1813 



Map of thk Battle of Ciiuysti-eh's Fif.i.d 



for the flotilla to jiroc'eed and for (ienoral Boyd to resume his 
march, when the appearance of the British in his rear forced 
him to halt and give them battle. Thus was brought about 
the famous battle of Chrystler's Field. 



216 THE WAR OF 1812 

The force which was drawn up at Chrystler's to receive the 
Americans was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison 
and was the same ''Corps of Observation" that has already 
been described. It consisted of three hundred and forty 
rank and file of the 49th Regiment, about three hundred of 
the 89th and detachments of the Canadian Fencibles and vol- 
tigeurs, a few of the royal artillery and militia artillery with 
three guns and half a dozen militia dragoons, in all about 
eight hundred rank and file of white troops with thirty 
Indians under Lieutenant Anderson. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Morrison posted his men in a position which he had pre- 
viously selected, his right resting on the river and his left on 
a pine wood, and showing a front of about seven hundred 
yards. The ground occupied was perfectly open, and the 
troops were thus disposed: the flank companies of the 49th 
Regiment and the detachment of Canadian Fencibles with 
one 6-pounder, under Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, were on 
the right, a little advanced on the road which skirts the 
river and passes Chrystler's house; three companies of the 
89 th Regiment under Captaui Barnes with a 6-pounder were 
formed en echelon with the advance and supporting its left; 
the remainder of the 49th and 89th Regiments thrown more 
to the rear, with one gun, formed the main body's reserve 
and extended to the woods on the left which were occupied 
by the voltigeurs under Major Herriot and the Indians under 
Lieutenant Anderson. 

It is difficult to get at the exact force that the Americans 
brought into the field in this battle. General Wilkinson, 
in his first official despatch in regard to the affair, says: 
" It is impossible to say with accuracy what was our number 
on the field, because it consisted of indefinite detachments 
taken from the boats to render safe the passage of the 
Savilt." In the next paragraph of his letter, however, he says: 
"Our force engaged might have reached one thousand six 
hundred, or one thousand seven hundred men, but actual- 
ly did not exceed one thousand eight hundred." But in a 
second despatch written two days later, which he asks the 



CHATEAUGUAY AND CHRYSTLER'.S FIELD 217 

American secretary of war to consider as an ai)pendage to 
his first official coininunication, he says: "Having received 
information late in the day that the contest had been some- 
what dubious, I ordered up a reserve of six hundred men 
whom I had ordered to stand by their arms under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Upham, who gallantly led them into action, which 
terminated a few minutes after their arrival on the ground." 
Here we have an admission from the American general him- 
self that he had two thousand fcnu' lumdrcd men engaged, 
or three times the l^ritish force. Yet it is not easy to under- 
stand why his available force should have been so small. A 
few days before he had announced his army as numbering 
seven thousand non-commissioned officers and ])rivates. After 
making allowance for the detached forces under Brown, there 
certainly would be fom* thousand men left with Wilkinson, of 
whom all but a few hundreds remaining in the boats might 
have taken part in the battle. It seems impossible, there- 
fore, to resist the conclusion that the American general, who, 
at the time of the battle was confined to his bed, had been 
misinformed as to the details of the engagement and the 
number of men he had in the field. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Morrison described the enemy as "consisting of two bri- 
gades of infantry antl a regiment of cavalry, amounting to 
between three and four thousand men." There were in 
reality parts of three brigades with three brigadier-generals. 
The enemy brought six guns into action. 

General Wilkinson's orders, as described by himself, were 
for Brigadier-General Boyd, "to throw down the detach- 
ments of his command, assigned to him in the order of the 
preceding day, and composed of his own, Covington's and 
Swartwout's brigades, into three colunms, to march upon 
the enemy, and outflank them if possible and take their 
artillery." About two p.m., Boyd endeavoured to carry out 
these orders. Swartwout was detached with the fourth 
brigade to attack the Britisli advance, which was composed 
of light troops, while Covington was directed to take a posi- 
tion at supporting distance with the third brigade. The 



218 THE WAR OF 1812 

British skirmishers fell back on the main body and at 2.30 
the action became general. The whole of Swartwout's bri- 
gade and part of the first brigade under Colonel Coles now 
endeavoured to turn the British left, while the third brigade 
under General Covington, made a front attack. Swart- 
wout's flank attack was repulsed by the six companies of the 
89th, formed en potence with the eight companies of the 49th, 
both corps moving forward and occasionally firing by pla- 
toons. As their united strength did not exceed four hundred 
and twenty rank and file, the character of their achievement 
in defeating one entire American brigade and part of another 
will be understood. The efforts of the enemy were next 
directed against the British right, and to repulse this move- 
ment, which was made by General Covington's brigade with 
four cannon, the 49th took ground in that direction en echelon, 
followed by the 89th. When within half-musket shot, these 
two regiments formed in line under a heavy but irregular 
fire from the enemy. The 49th was then directed to charge 
one of the enemy's guns, but this movement was checked in 
consequence of a charge by the American dragoons on the 
right, for if persisted in it would have exposed the 49th to an 
attack on their flank and rear by the cavalry. These dra- 
goons, however, were received in so gallant a manner by the 
three companies of the 89th, under Captain Barnes, that they 
speedily retreated, and Barnes, following up the advantage 
he had gained, by a sudden charge captured the gun. This 
was the turning point of the battle. General Covington fell 
mortally wounded and his brigade became confused. The 
fourth brigade was also pushed back, and it was followed in 
its retreat by the first, under Colonel Coles. At half-past 
four the Americans had given way at all points, and their 
retreat was rapidly becoming a rout when their disorderly 
flight was partially checked by the arrival of a reinforce- 
ment of six hundred men under Lieutenant-Colonel Upham. 
The American light infantry attempted to cover their retreat, 
but were driven away by a judicious movement made by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson with the flank companies of the 



CHATEAUCiUAY AM) ClIHYSTLKR'S I Ii:LI) 219 

49th and the detachniont of Caiuuhaii I'Viiciblcs. The Jiritish 
occupied the ground from whieli tlie Americans had been 
driven, hut as they had no cavahv they coukl not pursue 
the routed enemy. 

In this battle the loss of the British was twenty-two killed, 
one hundred and forty-seven wounded and twelve missing. 
The Americans stated their loss at one hundred and two 
killed and two hundred and thirty-seven wounded. The 
British took more than one hundred prisoners. As General 
Boyd, in re))l3' to an inquiry by CJeiuM-al Wilkinson, admitted 
that he could not maintain himself on the Canadian shore 
the night of the battle, it was necessary to embark his whole 
detachment, with the excej)tion of the tlragoons and light 
artillery which were marched down the river. The em- 
barkation was effected under cover of darkness, and the 
American flotilla proceeded about four miles towards Corn- 
wall and landed the defeated army on the American side of 
the St. Lawrence where no British trooj)s could molest them. 
On the following day the troops were re-embarked and the 
flotilla ran the Long Sault and formed a junction with Gen- 
eral Brown's detachment at Barnhart's three miles above 
Cornwall. 

At this ])lace an un))leasant surprise awaited Wilkinson. 
A short time after his arrival Colonel Atkinson, General 
Hamj)ton's inspector-general, waited on him with a letter 
from that ofhcer in which he declined to join Wilkinson at St. 
Regis as he had been ordered, and informed him that he was 
marching to Lake Champlain to cooperate in the attack on 
Montreal from that point. Wilkinson called a council of 
war which decided that the attack on Montreal should be 
abandoned for that season, and that the army should go into 
winter (quarters at P'rench Mills on the Salmon River. This 
programme was at once carrie(l out. and on the following 
day the entire army crossed over to the American shore. 
Their movements were hastened by the news that there 
was a considerable British foice at Coteau du Lac and 
that Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison's " Corjxs of Gbserva- 



220 THE WAR OF 1812 

tion," which had defeated them at Chrystler's, was close at 
hand. 

The failure of Wilkinson's expedition was the greatest of 
the series of humiliations which American pride had to en- 
dure in the course of the war. From the magnitude of the 
preparations that had been made and the number of men 
employed, success might reasonably have been expected. 
More than fourteen thousand disciplined troops, including 
Hampton's army, had been engaged in the invasion of 
Canada, yet all their efforts had come to naught. General 
Wilkinson himself appears to have been wholly incompetent, 
and the same charge of intemperance which was made 
against Hampton was also applied to him. It has been 
stated that the ''sickness" of which this general complained 
in his letters, was due to over-indulgence in spirituous liquors, 
and that he was lying drunk in his boat while the battle of 
Chrystler's Field was going on. 

The sedentary militia of Lower Canada, who had been 
called out for active service in view of the threatened invasion, 
and had responded with alacrity, were dismissed to their 
homes by a general order of the seventeenth of November, 
in which they were justly complimented for their loyalty and 
zeal. A great danger had been averted and the last chance 
which the Americans had of successfully attacking Kingston 
or Montreal, had passed away. 



CHAPTER XIA' 

THE BURNING OF NEWARK 

The extreme anxiety of the Ainorican secretary of war to 
make the armies of Wilkinson and Hampton so strong that 
a successful invasion of Lower Canada would be the crowning 
effort of the year, had been the means of reducing the Ameri- 
can force on the Niagara frontier and bringing operations 
there to a standstill. As it was considered that more glory 
was to be acquired before Montreal than in Upper Canada, 
all the regular officers of high rank were with Wilkinson and 
Hampton, and Fort George was left in command of Brigadicn*- 
General McClure of the New York militia. In the absence 
of General De Rottenburg, who had been called to Kingston, 
General Vincent again commanded the British forces on the 
Niagara frontier, having his headquarters near St. Davids. 
On the ninth of October the news of Procter's defeat on the 
Thames reached him, and as it was considered certain that 
Harrison would follow and attempt to capture the British 
post at Burlington Heights, it became necessary for Vincent 
to fall back and concentrate his army at that point. Ac- 
cordingly the delicate operation of withdrawing the army 
from the front of a very suj)erior enemy was commenced the 
same day, and conducted with such skill that the main body 
had been nearly twelve hours on the march before the dis- 
appearance of the pickets notified the American commander 
that the British were gone. General McClure, with the bulk 
of his army, followed as far as Twelve Mile Creek, but the 
rear guard, consisting of the 100th Regiment and the light 
company of the 8th under the command of Colonel Murray, 
presented such a formidable front that he did not attempt 



222 THE WAR OF 1812 

any attack, ^ance^t reached Burlington Heights without 
loss and was there joined by the remnant of General Procter's 
army numbering two hundred and forty-six officers and 
men. 

General McClure, in a proclamation addressed to the people 
of Upper Canada which he issued at this time, chose to treat 
the retirement of the British army from before Fort George 
as an abandonment of the province. Matters certainly wore 
a very unpromising aspect and the province was much 
nearer being abandoned than most people were aware of at 
the time, for as soon as Sir George Prevost heard of Procter's 
defeat he sent orders to General Vincent directing him to 
evacuate all the British posts west of Kingston. That such 
an order should have been issued, shows the extreme folly 
of a commander-in-chief attempting to direct operations 
from a distance without a knowledge of all the facts. Sir 
George Prevost doubtless believed when he issued the order 
that Harrison was advancing in force through the western 
peninsula, and that a speedy retreat was the only way to save 
the army. Fortunately for the interests of Canada and the 
credit of the British arms, the officers who were charged with 
the execution of the order had better information than the 
commander-in-chief and were not afraid of responsibility. 
General Vincent called a council of war at Burlington Heights 
which decided that the order should not be obeyed and that 
the army should not retreat. This noble resolve, which was 
taken in one of the darkest hours of the war, at a time when 
the Americans looked upon Montreal as already theirs, was 
the means of winning back all that had been lost on the 
Niagara frontier that year. It nerved the arm of every 
British soldier and Canadian militiaman to greater efforts, 
and inspired the hearts of all the people of the province with 
renewed courage. 

The retirement of the British from the vicinity of Fort 
George gave General McClure a free hand for the practice of 
the only species of warfare in which he was competent to 
shine — that of marauding and plundering. American soldiers 



THE BURNING OF NEWARK 



2 .'3 



were quartered on the inhabitants of Newark and the farm- 
houses in its vicinity were systematically robbed by McClure's 
troops. This general had offered the friendship and protec- 
tion of his government to the people of the province, but 
these fine-sounding words proved to be without meaning. 
Friendship and protection were only for those who would 
renounce their allegiance and cooperate with him in the work 
of making Upper Canada an American state. All others 







^^>^:^^:'..^^ 



{c'**'' j'' 



A Farm-House in 1812 
From " Sangster's Niagara River and Falls." Vol. 1. 



who preferred to remain British subjects were to be dra- 
gooned into submission. Bands of American soldiers scoured 
the country, pillaging and destroying the houses of the in- 
habitants, and carrying off the leading men to the American 
side of the Niagara River where they were incarcerated in 
filthy dungeons. One of the most prominent of McClure's 
agents in this detestable work was one Wilcox, a British sub- 
ject of Irish birth, who at the time of the war was a resident 
of York, editor of a newspaper and a member of the legisla- 
ture of Upper Canada. Wilcox took strong ground in favour 
of the Americans and tried to persuade the legislature and 
people of Upper Canada to refuse to resist the invaders. It 
was to Wilcox and men of the same stripe that the legislature 
referred, when, in its loyal address at the opening of the 



224 THE WAR OF 1812 

war, it spoke of the emissaries that the Americans had spread 
through the country to seduce their fellow-subjects from their 
allegiance. Wilcox, finding the atmosphere of York too 
warm for him, fled soon after Hull's surrender and took 
refuge in New York state, and it was quite in keeping with 
his character that when he turned his back on Canada, he 
should have taken with him a horse which he had stolen 
from Lieutenant Ryerson of the Norfolk militia. This traitor 
and thief, who afterwards served in the American army 
until he was killed at Fort Erie, was a fitting instrument in 
the hands of McClure to harry, rob and harass the people of 
Newark and its vicinity. The people of the Niagara fron- 
tier suffered incredible hardships and had to endure many 
insults, but they preserved their manhood and their loyalty, 
. The spirit of the loyal inhabitants of Upper Canada was 
well illustrated by an event which took place in the county 
of Norfolk, in November of that year. A band of traitors 
like Wilcox, and several Americans, had been engaged in 
plundering the houses of the people of that county while the 
able-bodied population were serving with the army. Forty- 
five officers and men of the Norfolk militia, who had returned 
to their homes at the end of the campaign, formed themselves 
into an association, and under the command of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Bostwick marched against the marauders .whom 
they fell in with on the Lake Erie shore, a few miles from 
Dover. In the engagement which ensued, several of the 
robbers were killed and wounded, and eighteen taken pri- 
soners. Fifteen of these were convicted of high treason, 
eight of them hanged and the other seven transported. This 
hardy and successful enterprise received the approval of the 
president of the province, Major-General De Rottenburg, in 
a district general order in which the engagement was pointed 
out as a striking instance of the beneficial effects of unan- 
imity and exertion in the cause of the country. 

McClure, whose force now consisted of nearly three thou- 
sand volunteers and militia and a few hundred regulars, con- 
tinued his course of outrage and robbery on the inhabitants 




Captain of United States Infantry, 1813 



226 THE WAR OF 1812 

within his lines, until it became imperatively necessary for 
the British commander to attempt to do something to check 
it. Colonel Murray, who commanded the British advance 
posts, on his own urgent representations obtained permission 
from General Vincent to make a demonstration against the 
Americans, but with strict injunctions not to go beyond 
Forty Mile Creek. The news of Murray's advance with three 
hundred and eighty men of the 100th Regiment, a few volun- 
teers and less than one hundred Indians, was the signal for 
McClure to retreat from Twenty Mile Creek where he was 
posted. Colonel Murray, having obtained permission to ex- 
tend his march, advanced as far as Twelve Mile Creek and 
compelled McClure to retire to Fort George. But even there 
he did not deem himself safe, although the fort had been 
greatly strengthened during the summer and autumn, and he 
resolved to abandon Canada altogether. Before doing so, 
however, he completed the record of his vandalism and 
cruelty by an act which has made his name forever infamous 
in the history of the war. 

The beautiful village of Newark, although it had suffered 
somewhat in the various contests which had occurred around 
it, still remained a pleasant and habitable town. It con- 
tained about one hundred and fifty houses and two churches. 
From the very first moment when McClure obtained the com- 
mand he seems to have cast an evil eye on Newark, and 
obtained from Secretary Armstrong the following order 
which he afterwards used to justify his conduct. 

"War Department, October 4th, 1813. 
''Sir: — Understanding that the defence of the post com- 
mitted to your charge may render it proper to destroy the 
to"s\Ti of Newark, you are hereby directed to apprise the in- 
habitants of this circumstance and invite them to remove 
themselves and their effects to some place of greater safety. 

"JOHN ARMSTRONG." 

Armed with this order, McClure could afford to wait until 
his vengeance against the unfortunate people of Newark 



THI-: lU'KNIXG OF XKWAI^v' 227 

could be satcil to the utmost. December came with its 
bitter blasts and blinding snow-storms, so that any living 
creature who was left without shelter was foredoomed to 
death. On the eighteenth of the month, which chanced to 
be a Friday, just before nightfall, McClure sent his officers 
to notify the inhabitants of Newark that he was about to 
destroy their town, and that such of them as desired to save 
any of their effects should remove them at once. Half an 
hour later the incendiaries followed, and soon every house in 
the village was in flames. The sun had set, but the sky was 
lighted up with the conflagration which told of the cruel and 
wanton destruction of a peaceful town, and the inhabitants 
of Newark were homeless. More than four hundred helpless 
women and children were driven out, without food or shelter, 
to endure the rigours of a Canadian winter that dreadful 
night. The aged and feeble, the sick and dying, and the new- 
born infant were alike sharers in the common doom which 
had been decreed against them by an infamous government, 
and executed by a man still more infamous than the men 
he served. Every building in Newark, with the exception of 
a single house, that of Mr. Gordon, was destroyed. 

Murray from his camp at Twelve Mile Creek saw the con- 
flagration of Newark, and divining its purport hurried to- 
wards Fort George, hoping to surprise the garrison. The 
cowardly McClure became panic-sti"icken as he approached, 
and fled across the river in such fear that he left all his tents 
standing, sufficient to accommodate one thousand five hun- 
dred men. So great was his haste to get away that the new 
barracks which had just been built were left unconsumed, 
the fort was not blown up, and a considerable number of 
cannon as well as a quantity of stores were left behind. 
Thus was the whole Niagara frontier once more cleared of the 
invader, and the people of this beautiful and highly culti- 
vated region rescued from a merciless enemy. Once more 
the British flag floated over Fort George, which the Americans 
had been good enough to strengthen and improve so greatly 
that it could have stood a regular siege by a formidable 



228 THE WAR OF 1812 

force, if defended by men of courage instead of the cowardly 
incendiaries who had occupied it. 

The destruction of Newark excited the strongest feehngs 
of indignation throughout Canada and led to speedy retalia- 
tion. As it was evident that Sir George Prevost's system of 
conducting warfare without offending the enemy was a 
failure, some other method of bringing the Americans to a 
due sense of their conduct had to be found. Lieutenant- 
General Drummond had arrived from England to relieve 
Major-General De Rottenburg of the presidency and military 
command in Upper Canada, and he, with Major-General 
Riall, reached the Niagara frontier soon after the flight of the 
Americans from the Canadian shore. Murray represented 
to him the demoralized condition of the enemy and the 
probability of a retaliatory attack being successful, and 
General Drummond, ever ready where prompt action was 
demanded, gave the enterprise proposed by the daring colonel 
his immediate approval. It was resolved to capture Fort 
Niagara, if possible, and sweep the Americans from their 
own frontier. To effect this, a sufficient number of bateaux 
had to be brought overland from Burlington Bay, and this 
arduous work was accomplished by the active exertions of 
Captain Elliott, of the quartermaster-generars department, 
and Captain Kirby and Lieutenants Ball, Servos and Hamil- 
ton of the militia. 

All necessary preparations being completed on the night 
of the eighteenth. Colonel Murray crossed the Niagara River 
and landed the detachment intended for the assault on Fort 
Niagara at Five Mile Meadows, about three miles distant 
from the fort. The force under Colonel Murray's command 
numbered about five hundred and fifty rank and file, and 
consisted of the effective men of the 100th Regiment; the 
grenadiers of the 1st Royal Scots; the flank companies of the 
second battalion of the 41st, which had recently arrived from 
England, and a small detachment of Royal Artillery. Fort 
Niagara was a very strong work mounting twenty-seven 
cannon, and had a garrison of four hundred and forty regu- 
lars. To capture such a fortress by a night assault was cer- 



THE BURNING OK NEWARK 229 

taiiily a most daring undertaking, yet this was what the 
British attenij)ted and acconiphshed. At four o'clock tliat 
Sunday morning the attack was made. Murray's disposi- 
tions were admirable, and calculated to win success even in 
the event of a desperate resistance. An advance guard con- 
sisting of twenty men of the 100th Regiment under Lieutenant 
Dawson, was followed by the grenadiers of the same regi- 
ment under Captain Fawcett and a few artillerynien. Then 
followed five companies of the 100th Regiment under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Hamilton, which were to assault the main 
gate and escalade the works adjacent. Three companies of 
the 100th under Captain Martin were detached to storm the 
eastern demi-bastion. Captain Bailey, with the grenadiers 
of the 1st Royal Scots, was directed to attack the salient 
angle of the fortification, while the flank companies of the 
41st under Lieutenant Bullock were ordered to support the 
principal attack. Each j)arty was provided with scaling- 
ladders and axes. Every detail of the programme of assault 
was carried out with the most brilliant success. Lieutenant 
Dawson's advance party succeeded in cutting off two of the 
enemy's pickets, and surjirising the sentries on the glacis 
and at the gate, by which means the watchword was ob- 
tained. While Captain Martin with his three companies of 
the 100th Regiment was storming the eastern demi-bastion, 
five companies of the same regiment under Colonel Murray 
in person entered the fort by the main gate which had been 
left open for the return of the guard from relieving sentries. 
The main-guard rushed out of the south-eastern blockhouse 
and attempted to drive the British back, but was instantly 
overpowered. Some of the garrison escaped to the old 
mess-house, and kept up from it a severe fire on the British, 
but they were speedily compelled to surrender. In a few 
minutes all was over and the British flag was waving from 
Fort Niagara. 

The capture of this formidable stronghold was certainly 
one of the most brilliant passages of the war, and it was ac- 
complished with the inconsiderable loss of six killed and five 



230 THE WAR OF 1812 

wounded. The loss of the Americans was sixty-five killed, 
fourteen wounded and three hundred and forty-four taken 
prisoners. Of the entire garrison only about twenty, some 
of them badly wounded, escaped. The spoils captured con- 
sisted of twenty-seven cannon, three thousand stand of arms 
and many rifles, besides an immense quantity of ordnance 
and commissariat stores, as well as of clothing and camp 
equipage of every description. Fort Niagara remained in 
our possession until the end of the war. Its capture was the 
means of releasing eight respectable Canadian inhabitants 
who had been dragged from their homes on the other side of 
the river and immured within its walls to gratify the coward- 
ly McClure. 

While Fort Niagara was being stormed, General Riall was 
waiting at Queenston with about five hundred men of the 
Royal Scots and 42nd Regiments and when the fort was 
taken the firing of a single large cannon from one of its 
bastions gave him the signal to cross over to Lewiston. He 
had been preceded by about five hundred Indians who at- 
tacked and routed the American militia stationed there, with 
the loss of eight killed. The Indians then set fire to Lewis- 
ton. When General Riall crossed the enemy had disap- 
peared, but he captured two cannon, a considerable quantity 
of small arms and ammunition, and two hundred barrels of 
flour. The villages of Youngstown, Manchester, and the 
Indian Tuscarora were also burnt, and Fort Schlosser was 
destroyed. Major Mallory, who with a band of traitors 
styled ''Canadian Volunteers," undertook to stop the British 
advance guard, was driven back with a loss of eight or ten 
killed. The whole American Niagara frontier from Lake 
Ontario to Tonewanto Creek, a distance of twenty-five miles, 
was cleared not only of the armed enemy, but of houses and 
inhabitants. Only the breaking down of the bridge over 
this creek prevented General Riall from advancing immedi- 
ately to Buffalo. McClure, writing on the twenty-second of 
December from that place, announced that he had called out 
the militia of Genesee, Niagara and Chautauqua counties 



THE BURNING OF NEWARK 231 

en masse, that volunteers were coming forwartl in great 
numbers and that Buffalo was perfectly secure. It did not 
take many days to demonstrate the erroneous character of 
this opinion, for Buffalo was doomed. McClure, two days 
after he wrote this despatch, became panic-stricken at the 
prospect of having to meet the British in the field and handed 
over his conmiand to Major-General Amos Hall. The latter 
reviewed his troops on the twenty-seventh and found him- 
self in command of upwards of two thousand men who were 
stationed at Black Rock and Buffalo. Such was the helpless 
condition to which the people of the great state of New 
York had become reduced in the course of the contest into 
which they had entered with so much zeal. 

Lieutenant-General Drummond took up his headquarters 
at Chippawa on the twenty-eighth, and on the following day 
reconnoitred the enemy's position at Black Rock. That 
night. General Riall with four companies of the 8th Regi- 
ment, two hundred and fifty of the 41st, the light company 
of the 89th, the grenadiers of the 100th Regiment, and fifty 
volunteer militia, the whole numbering less than six hundred 
rank and file, with one hundred and twenty Indians, crossed 
to the American shore and landed about two miles below 
Black Rock. The light infantry of the 89th being in advance, 
surprised and captured the greater part of the enemy's pic- 
kets and secured the bridge over the Shegoquody Creek, the 
planks of which had already been loosened ready to be carried 
off. The 41st and the grenadiers of the 100th Regiment 
crossed the bridge and took possession of the "Sailor's bat- 
tery" there. General Hall, whose headquarters were be- 
tween Buffalo and Black Rock, sent forward Lieutenant- 
Colonels Warren and Churchill with a body of militia and 
Indians to dislodge the British, but the Americans fled at 
the first fire. Colonel Chapin and Major Adams with about 
five hundred militia were then ordered to the front, with 
precisely the same result. As soon as the British gave them 
a volley, they took to their heels. 

At davbreak General Riall movetl forward with his force, 



232 THE WAR OF 1812 

the four companies of the Sth Regiment and the hght com- 
pany of the 89th leading, and the 41st and grenadiers of 
the 100th being in reserve. At the same time the 1st Royal 
Scots, about eight hundred strong, with a detachment of 
the 19th Dragoons, the whole commanded by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Gordon, were crossing the river for the purpose of 
effecting a landing above the batteries at Black Rock. Gen- 
eral Hall had succeeded in drawing up his whole force on 
the beach in order to oppose the landing of the British, and 
owing to some mistake of the pilots, several boats in which 
the Royal Scots were, grounded, and were exposed to a 
heavy fire from the four guns on the Black Rock battery and 
Hall's infantry on the beach. The five British guns on the 
Canadian side of the river, however, responded vigorously, 
and Riall's force advancing on the enemy's right, a landing 
was effected after the gallant Scots had suffered severe loss. 
Hall's two thousand militia, volunteers and regulars made a 
very poor fight after the British had succeeded in land- 
ing, and in the course of a few minutes fled towards Buffalo, 
about two miles distant, as fast as their legs could carry 
them. Near Buffalo an attempt was made to check the 
pursuing British by the fire of a fieldpiece posted on a height 
which commanded the road, but the Americans, although 
in considerable force, were unable to maintain their position 
for a moment and fled to the woods, leaving Buffalo to its 
fate. Hall, with about three hundred of his men, escaped 
to Eleven Mile Creek, three miles from Buffalo. About 
one hundred and thirty of the Americans were taken pri- 
soners, but their loss in killed and wounded has never been 
officially stated. General Riall estimated it at between three 
and four hundred. The British had thirty-one killed, seven- 
ty-two wounded and nine missing. Of the killed and 
wounded, six were Indians. The militia volunteers suffered 
a loss of three killed and six wounded out of fifty men en- 
gaged. 

The British captured at Black Rock and Buffalo eight 
cannon which had been used in the defence of these places. 



THE IJURXING OF NEWAliK 



2S:i 



They took and destroyed a large quantity of public stores, 
and they burnt the United States war vessels Ariel, Little 
Belt, Chippewa and Trippe, all of which had been engaged 
in the battle of Lake Erie a few months before. Both 
Buffalo and Black Kock were conmiitted to the flames, and 
thus in less than three weeks from the date of its destruction 
was Newark signally avenged. The British having com- 
pleted their work retired to the Canadian side of the river 
holding possession only of Fort Niagara. The retaliation by 
which the whole American frontier on the Niagara was laid 
waste was no doubt severe, but it was only by the exercise of 



My^ 



.-TV' 



ON THIS SITE WAS 



BUFFALO'S FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE 

BUILT 1807-8-DESTROYED DEC^30»181^ 

AT THE BURNING OF THE VILLAGE 

BY THE BRITISH. 



ERECTED BY THE 

NIAGARA FRONTIER LANDMARKS ASSOCIATION 

1902 



How THE City of Biffalo Remembers the War of 1812-14 
A memorial tablet in brass. 



such measures that the American jieople could 1)(> brought to 
their senses and taught to respect the methods of civilized 
warfare. Sir George Prevost in a proclamation dated Jan- 
uary 12th, 1814, stated that it was not his intention to pursue 
further a system of retaliatory warfare unless the future 
conduct of the enemy should compel him to resort to it. 

One of the most spirited enterprises of the year was that 
of Lieutenant Medcalf and a few men of the Norfolk, Middle- 



234 THE WAR OF 1812 

sex and Kent militia in capturing a party of the enemy's 
regulars near Chatham in the latter part of December. The 
Americans, forty-five in number, were posted in the house of 
one Macrae, by the riverside, when Medcalf with twenty-eight 
of his militia surprised them, killed two of the party and 
made all the rest, except three who escaped, prisoners. This 
party, which was from the garrison at Detroit, had been com- 
mitting many depredations on the peninsula, and their cap- 
ture was a great relief to the settlers on the river Thames. 

When the general results of the land operations of the 
year 1813 are considered, it will be seen that the balance of 
advantage was greatly with the British, notwithstanding 
Procter's defeat on the Thames, the repulse at Sacketts 
Harbour and the capture of York and Fort George. Al- 
though the Americans had strained their resources to the. 
utmost and collected an army of more than fourteen thou- 
sand men for the capture of Montreal, they were foiled and 
defeated by a comparatively small British force. Their 
brief occupation of the western peninsula brought them no 
substantial advantage, and on the Niagara frontier their 
strength gradually withered away, until, so far from being 
able to hold Canadian territory, they had no longer the 
power to defend their own. The year closed with Fort 
Niagara in possession of the British forces and the state of 
New York open to their attack. The American militia had 
become so demoralized that they were no longer able to make 
even a pretence of resistance, and after nearly two years of 
warfare the conquest of Canada seemed to be more remote 
than ever. 

While the land operations detailed in the foregoing chap- 
ters were in progress, the whole coast of the United States 
was blockaded by British vessels so that the commerce of 
the country was almost ruined. The officer commanding on 
the North American station was Rear-Admiral Cockburn, 
who by the efficient manner in which he attended to his 
instructions has earned the violent hatred and abuse of 
most American writers on the war. On March 4th, 1813, 



THE BURNING OF NEWARK 235 

Cockbum in the Marlborough, 74, aiul with a number of 
frigates and smaller vessels, entered Chesapeake Bay. He 
was charged with the duty of threatening and harassing the 
enemy so that they would be obliged to gather troops for the 
defence of Washington, which would leave them fewer to use 
for an attack on Canada. Later iji the same month, Admiral 
Warren himself came with a reinforcement. The operations 
of the Ikitish fleet in Chesapeake Hay during that summer, 
although they were effective, do not |)r()i)erly come under the 
scope of this history. The Americans were kept in a con- 
stant state of alarm, much {)ublic property was destroyed, 
and the militia, who were frequently attacked on shore, as 
regularl}- ran away. A great many slaves sought refuge on 
board the British vessels from the tyranny of their masters, 
begging that they might have the benefit of that beneficent 
principle of law which declares that no slave can live on Bri- 
tish ground. The prayers of these unfortunate victims of a 
detestable system were not denied, and they were received 
on board the Bi-itish ships. There was no event of the war 
wiiich struck such t(>rror into the hearts of the slave-holders 
of Virginia and the other states of the South as this. To 
counteract the movement, they spread the report that the 
Britisli were taking these slaves, who had fled to them, to the 
West Indies and were selling them there. Lossing adopts this 
story and enlarges upon it in the face of the fact that these 
slaves were taken to Xova Scotia and New Brunswick and 
provided for by the British government, and that their 
descendants to the number of sev(>ral thousands are living 
in these provinces to this day. 

Only four single-ship engagements took place during the 
year 1813, in two of which the British were successful. The 
most important of these which was between the British fri- 
gate Shannon, Captain Broke, and the United States frigate 
Chesapeake, Captain Lawrence, took place six leagues east 
of Boston light on June 1st, 1813, at 5.40 p.m., the Chesa- 
peake having left Boston the same day at noon to engage the 
Shannon. In the other frigate actions in which the Ameri- 



236 THE WAR OF 1812 

cans had been victorious they had an immense superiority, 
but here the combatants were more evenly matched. The 
Chesapeake carried fifty guns, twenty-six in broadside, 
twenty-eight long 18's on the gun-deck, on the spar-deck 
two long 12's, one long 18, eighteen 32-pounder carronades 
and one 12-pounder carronade. The Shannon carried fifty- 
two guns, thirty-six in broadside, viz., twenty-eight long 18's 
on the gun-deck, and on the spar-deck four long 9's, one long 
6, sixteen 32-pounder carronades and three 12-pounder 
carronades. The respective forces of the ships may be seen 
by the following table: — 

Guns in Weight of Number of 

Broadside. Broadside. Men. 

Chesapeake 26 582 379 

Shannon 26 544 330 

The American vessel was thus superior both in weight of 
metal and number of men, yet she was captured by board- 
ing after an engagement which lasted just fifteen minutes. 
The Chesapeake had sixty-one killed or mortally wounded, 
including Captain Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow, and 
eighty-five severely and slightly wounded. The Shannon 
had thirty-three killed and fifty wounded. Captain Broke 
being among the latter. The Chesapeake was taken into 
Halifax, and the large fleet of pleasure boats and yachts 
which had attended her down the bay to see how readily 
she would "whip the Britisher," had to return grievously 
disapppinted. 

Captain Lawrence, who fell in the engagement, had been 
the commander of the American corvette Hornet, which on 
the twenty-fourth of February previous, captured and sank 
the British brig Peacock off the Demarara River. The Hornet 
carried eighteen 32-pounder carronades and two long 12's, 
so that she threw a broadside of three hundred pounds. Her 
crew numbered one hundred and forty-two men. The Pea- 
cock carried sixteen 24-pounder carronades, two long 9's, 
one 12-pounder and one 6-pounder carronade. Her broad- 
side weight of metal was two hundred and ten pounds, and her 




=. .5 



^ s 

^ 2 
?. fe 



238 THE WAR OF 1812 

crew numbered one hundred and twenty-two men. With 
such odds against her the defeat of the Peacock is easily 
accounted for, although it was made worse than it need have 
been by the bad gunnery of her men, who instead of being 
drilled at the cannon were kept most of the time polishing 
brass-work in order that the vessel might retain the title of 
"The Yacht." Her foolish martinet of a captain, William 
Peake, was killed in the action with seven of his men, and 
twenty-eight were wounded. The Hornet lost only one 
killed and two wounded. The Peacock sank almost im- 
mediately after her surrender, taking down with her nine of 
her own men and three of the Hornet's crew. 

On the fourteenth of August, the American brig Argus, 
which had been committing depredations in St. George's 
Channel, was encountered and captured by the British brig 
Pelican, Captain Maples. The Argus carried eighteen 
24-pounder carronades and two long 12's, and her crew num- 
bered one hundred and twenty-one men. The Pelican carried 
sixteen 32-pounder carronades, two long 12's and two long 
6's as stern-chasers. Her crew numbered one hundred 
and sixteen men. The action lasted forty-five minutes, 
the American brig hauling down her colours as the Pelican's 
men were in the act of boarding. The British vessel had but 
two men killed and five wounded, the Argus had ten killed 
and fourteen wounded, her commander, Lieutenant William 
Henry Allen, being among the slain. 

The last single-ship engagement of the year was between 
the British brig Boxer, Captain Blyth, and the American 
brig Enterprise, which was commanded by Lieutenant William 
Burrows, and resulted in the capture of the former. The 
Enterprise carried fourteen 18-pounder carronades and two 
long 9's, and her crew numbered one hundred and two men. 
The Boxer carried twelve 18-pounder carronades and two 
long 6's, and her crew numbered but sixty-six men. The 
Boxer was desperately defended and was not surrendered 
until she was almost a wreck and three of her guns dis- 
mounted. Three of her men were killed and seventeen 



THE BURXIXG OF NEWARK 239 

wounded, four of them mortally. Among the slain were 
Captain Blyth of the Boxer, and Lieutenant Burrows of the 
Enterprise, the two commanders were buried side by side 
at Portland, with the honours of war. Captain Blyth had 
nailed his colours to the mast and declared that the Boxer 
should never be surrendered while he lived, and he kept his 
word. This gallant officer was killed by an 18-pound shot 
at the very beginning of the action. No doubt his death 
contributed largely to the defeat of the Boxer, but in any 
case the odds were so greatly against her that success would 
have been difficult to achieve. No honour was lost to the 
British flag by the Boxer's defeat. 



CHAPTER XV 

Wilkinson's defeat at la colle 

The people of the United States were ill-satisfied with the 
results of their two years of warfare, and those of New Eng- 
land made no attempt to conceal their sentiments. Gov- 
ernor Strong, of Massachusetts, in his message denounced 
the war as cruel and unjust, and asked the legislature to 
adopt measures for bringing about a speedy peace. The two 
Houses agreed to a remonstrance in which they declared the 
further prosecution of the war to be impolitic and unjust, 
and implored Congress to adopt measures for arresting it. 
This remonstrance was presented in June, 1813, but no atten- 
tion was paid to it, for the war party in Congress was strong 
and truculent and still hopeful of the conquest of Canada. 
The leaders of the peace party in New England were so 
impressed with the hopelessness of their position, that they 
suggested the propriety of the New England states taking 
care of themselves, and concluding a separate peace with 
Great Britain, leaving the states beyond the Hudson River 
to fight as long as they pleased. Even at this early period, 
the interests of New England and those of the slave-holding 
states of the South were in direct conflict with each other. 

A conspicuous proof of the predominance of the South was 
afforded by the passage in December, 1813, of an Embargo 
Act, forbidding under heavy penalties the exportation by 
land or water of any goods, produce, specie or live stock. 
This Act was intended to prevent supplies reaching the 
British from American ports, but was so strictly enforced 
while it lasted, that it entirely stopped the local coasting 
trade and put the small towns on the New England coast 



WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 241 

to great suffering and inconvenience. While the war party in 
Congress was exulting over this last exhibition of their power, 
news came from Europe which threw them into a great state 
of consternation. They learned that their good friend and 
ally, Napoleon, had been defeated at the battle of Leipsic, 
and that the French armies had been driven out of Spain by 
Wellington. Msions were before them of the forlorn condi- 
tion to which they would be reduced when the British had 
the war with Napoleon off their hands and would be able to 
turn their attention exclusively to th(>m. 

In March, 1813, the emperor of Russia, through M. Dasch- 
koff, his representative at Washington, formally offered the 
United States his friendly services in bringing about a peace 
with Great Britain. This offer, which came at a time when 
the disasters which Napoleon had met with in Russia seemed 
to point to his speedy downfall, was accepted, and Albert 
Gallatin, the secretary of the treasury, and James A. Bayard, 
senator for Delaware, w^ere appointed envoys extraordinary 
to act jointly with Mr. Adams and negotiate a treaty of peace 
with Great Britain at St. Petersburg. The British govern- 
ment refused to treat under the mediation of Russia, but 
offered to open negotiations in London or at Gottenburg in 
Sweden, "upon principles of perfect reciprocity, not incon- 
sistent wath the established maxims of public law, and with 
the maritime rights of the British empire." Although it was 
evident from this offer, which was received early in January, 
1814, that Great Britain did not intend to recede from her 
position as to the right of search, President Madison was so 
terrified at the prospect of having to conduct the war without 
French aid that he appointed Henry Clay and Jonathan 
Russell as additional commissioners, and the five by the 
concurrent action of the Senate were duly commissioned to 
treat for peace with the British representatives at Gotten- 
burg. Clay and Russell sailed from New York on February 
23rd, 1814, carrying with them instructions to insist that 
the British should abandon the right of search, and cease to 
impress seamen on board American vessels. ''Our flag,'' 



242 THE WAR OF 1812 

said the instructions, "must protect the crew, or the United 
States cannot consider themselves an independent nation." 
These instructions were wholly disregarded in the peace 
which was eventually concluded. The negotiations for peace 
thus commenced gave the peace party a lever with which 
to effect the removal of the obstructive Embargo Act, and 
it was repealed on April 14th, 1814, after it had been in opera- 
tion less than three months and a half. 

Not only had the continuance of the war pressed with 
great severity upon the commercial interests of the United 
States, it had also greatl)'' embarrassed the government 
financially. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm with which 
the American people had entered upon the contest, it was 
found extremely difficult to obtain recruits for the regular 
army. This army was intended to have a strength of sixty- 
one thousand men, but at the beginning of the year 1814 its 
number did not exceed forty thousand. To bring the force 
up to the required strength great inducements to recruits 
were authorized by Congress. Men willing to enlist were to 
receive a bounty of one hundred and twenty-four doUars, 
their pay was increased and each private was to have a grant 
of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Illinois or Missouri. 
At the same time the president was authorized to call out 
the militia for six months instead of three. 

It has been already stated that when the war commenced 
there were but eight British regiments in Canada, including 
the 10th Veteran Battalion and the three provincial corps, 
the Canadian Fencibles, the Glengarries, and the Newfound- 
land Regiment. The whole force, including a detachment 
of artillery, numbered but four thousand four hundred and 
fifty rank and file. At the beginning of 1814 the number of 
regiments in Canada had been increased to fifteen, viz., the 
1st, 8th, 13th, 41st, 49th, 89th, 100th, 103rd, 104th, Glengar- 
ries, Canadian Fencibles, VoUigeurs, Newfoundland Regiment, 
De Watteville's and De Meuron's Regiments. The two latter 
were foreign corps, and the five preceding them provincial 
regiments. The 41st had two battalions, but the greater 



WILKIXSOX'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 243 

part of tlie first battalion had been captured after the battle 
of the Thames. The regular force in Canada was, therefore, 
considerably less than ten thousantl rank and file. The 
strength of the six battalions of the embodied militia of 
Lower Canada was at this time a little less than four thou- 
sand, that of Upper Canada was of course much less. These 
figures will serve to show what a strain was put upon the zeal 
and courage of the sedentary militia of both provinces, but 
especially of Upper Canada, in the year 1814. 

In February, a welcome reinforcement came from New 
Brunswick in the second battalion of the 8th Regiment, 
which had been stationed in that province after the 104th 
left there. As soon as their own regiment was summoned to 
the front, the people of New Brunswick with that loyalty 
and zeal which have ever distinguished them, organized 
another regiment, "The New Brunswick Fencibles," of 
which Li(>utenant-General John Coffin, a resident of the 
province, became colonel. The formation of this corps 
relieved the second battalion of the 8th from garrison duty in 
New Brunswick, and made it available for service in 
Canada. They reached Quebec by the same overland route 
through the wilderness, which the 104th had traversed the 
year previous, and were followed by two hundred and twenty 
seamen for the lakes. To expedite the progress of these 
reinforcements the legislature of New Brunswick voted 
£300, and tlie city of St. John gave an equal sum to defray 
the expense of conveying them in sleighs as far as the nature 
of the roads would permit. Private individuals showed as 
great a ])ublic spirit in giving the use of their teams for 
the transport of the gallant soldiers and sailors. At that 
period, although the British North American provinces were 
widely sejxirated by natural obstacles, they were closely 
united in spirit and patriotism. Politically they are now 
one, and three independent lines of railway now render com- 
munication between New Brunswick and Quebec easy and 
rapid at all seasons, so that it takes fewer hours to accom- 
plish the distance than it did days ninety years ago. 



244 THE WAR OF 1812 

The complete collapse of the American power on the 
Niagara frontier enabled Lieutenant-General Drummond to 
extend his protection to those portions of the peninsula 
which were much exposed to the raids of the enemy. In 
February, Captain A. H. Holmes, of the 24th United States 
infantry, was sent by Lieutenant-Colonel Butler, who was in 
temporary command at Detroit, to capture Fort Talbot on 
Lake Erie, where a British detachment was stationed. Holmes 
had with him one hundred and sixty men, rangers and 
mounted infantry of the 24th and 28th Regiments, and two 
6-pounders. He was foiled in his attempt on Fort Talbot, 
and was retreating by way of Longwood, when Captain Bas- 
den, of the 89th, advanced against him from Delaware Town, 
with the two flank companies of the 1st Royal Scots, the 
light company of the 89th, and fifty militia rangers and Kent 
militia, in all one hundred and ninety-six rank and file, and 
fifty Indians under Colonel Elliott. Holmes, learning of the 
approach of the British, fell back five miles to Twenty 
Mile Creek, where he secured himself on a commanding em- 
inence beyond a wide and deep ravine behind log intrench- 
ments forming a hollow square. There on the fourth of 
March, Captain Basden found and attacked the Americans 
in their stronghold. The snow was about fifteen inches deep 
with a strong crust rendering the approach to the enemy 
very difficult. Some of the militia who were well acquainted 
with the country offered to lead Captain Basden by a circuit- 
ous route to the rear of their position by which the Americans 
would have been caught in a cul de sac and forced to surrender. 
Captain Basden, however, preferred a direct attack, and 
assailed the enemy in front with his three companies of regu- 
lars while the militia made a flank movement to the right 
and the Indians a similar movement to the left. The British 
rushed across the ravine and up the height, but were received 
by such a heavy fire from the Americans, who were almost 
completely sheltered, that after a long and gallant struggle 
they were forced to retire with a loss of fourteen killed and 
fifty-one wounded. The Americans were so completely shel- 



WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 245 

tered that their loss was but four killed and four wounded. 
Captain Basden's excuse for his refusal to adopt a plan of 
attack which would have ensured success and saved many 
valuable lives, was that he wished to show a good example 
to the militia, but, as the citizen soldiers of Canada had 
never displayed any lack of courage, no such example 
seems to have been necessary. Captain I^asden, no doubt, 
was a brave officer, but he showed a lamentable lack of com- 
mon sense in his method of attack, and exhibited his utter 
unfitness for a separate command. 

The first serious operation undertaken by the Americans 
in 1814 was in Lower Canada. Secretary Armstrong, indeed, 
had views of his own, which, if carried out, would have made 
the Niagara frontier the first point of attack, and, in a letter 
written to General Wilkinson on the twentieth of January, 
he ])roposed that Colonel Wiiifield Scott should have two 
thousand four hundred men placed under him with which to 
recapture Fort Niagara where the British maintained a garri- 
son of less than three hundred men. This plan miscarried 
owing to the opposition of General Wilkinson, who was 
ambitious to distinguish himself on the northern frontier and 
wipe away part of the disgrace of the failure of the previous 
autumn. After the abandonment of the expedition against 
Montreal in November, 1813, Wilkinson's force was estab- 
lished in winter quarters on the Salmon River, near French 
Mills, but in January orders were received from the war 
department to break up this post. Early in February these 
orders were executed and General Wilkinson burnt his three 
hundred boats and bateaux, which had been used for the car- 
riage of his troops, twelve gunboats which had been em- 
ployed to protect his flotilla, and the barracks, blockhouses 
and huts for his troops which had been built at great labour 
and cost. All this property having been committed to the 
flames, the American general despatched General Brown with 
two thousand men, besides artillery, to Sacketts Harbour, 
and with the remainder of his force and as much of his stores 
and baggage as he could carry with him retreated to Platts- 



246 THE WAR OF 1812 

burg. Colonel Scott of the 103rd Regiment with detach- 
ments from that corps, the 89th, the Canadian Fencibles 
and a few light cavalry, the whole force amounting to about 
one thousand one hundred rank and file, pressed on Wilkin- 
son's rear as he retreated, and captured about one hundred 
sleigh loads of stores and provisions. Scott returned to his 
post at Coteau du Lac after having advanced to within a few 
miles of Plattsburg without encountering any opposition 
whatever. 

General Wilkinson had not been long at Plattsburg before 
he began to grow impatient to be in the field once more. He 
had become impressed with the idea that the British medi- 
tated some serious movement against him, and he determined 
to anticipate it. On the nineteenth of March he advanced 
with his army from Plattsburg to Chazy which is on the 
road from Plattsburg to Champlain, and there detached 
Brigadier-General Macomb with a corps of riflemen and a 
brigade of infantry across the lake to St. Armands where 
they remained until the twenty-sixth, when they were sud- 
denly withdrawn and rejoined the main body of the army at 
Champlain. On the twenty-ninth General Wilkinson called 
a council of war at that place, which was attended by Bri- 
gadier-Generals Macomb, Bissel and Smyth, Colonels Atkin- 
son, Miller and Cummings, and Majors Pitt and Totten. 
At this council the American general stated that the British 
had two thousand five hundred regulars at Isle Aux Noix 
and La Colle Mill, of whom, after leaving a garrison of two 
hundred men at Isle Aux Noix, two thousand three hundred 
might be brought into action. Wilkinson stated his own 
force at four thousand combatants, including one hundred 
cavalry and three hundred artillery with eleven guns, and he 
propounded the question, "Shall we attack the enemy?" The 
council expressed the opinion that the light troops should 
cover a reconnaissance towards La Colle Mill, and, if found 
practicable, the position should be attacked and the British 
works destroyed, and that the whole army should move to 
support the light troops. The council also approved the 



WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 



247 



order of battle which the general had submitted to them. 
On the same day AMlkinson issued a general order directing 
the men to be supplied with sixty rounds of ammunition and 
four days' cooked provisions. He said to his soldiers: "Let 
every officer and every man make the resolution to return 
victorious or not at all; for, with double the force of the 
enemy, this army must not give ground." The troops in 
approaching the enemy were ordered to be profoundly silent, 
and by way of screwing their courage to the sticking-point 
the folloAving interesting information was communicated to 
them: "An officer will be posted on the right of each platoon, 
and a tried sergeant will form a supernumerary rank, and will 
instantly put to death any man who goes back." 




LA COLLE MILL 

MARCH 30" I814-. 



Map of the Attack on La Colle Mill, March 30th, -1814 



On the thirtieth of March General Wilkinson, with his four 
thousand men divided into three brigades, connnenced his 
march to La Colle, which is distant about seven miles from 
his camp at Champlain. The American general had been 
misinformed as to the strength of the British and consequent- 
ly his army was out of all proportion to the force to be en- 
countered. Instead of there being two thousand five hun- 



248 THE WAR OF 1812 

drecl men at Isle Aiix Noix and La Colle Mill, there were less 
than seven hundred and fifty troops between both places, 
and not more than one thousand five hundred, including five 
hundred militia, within twenty-five miles of La Colle. The 
mill at La Colle was a stone structure, fifty feet in length and 
thirty-six in width with walls eighteen inches in thickness. 
To make it capable of defence the windows had been filled 
up with logs, leaving horizontal loopholes for muskets. It 
stood on the south side of the La Colle River about three- 
quarters of a mile above its junction with the Richelieu. The 
river at this point was crossed by a wooden bridge which 
formed a means of communication with a small wooden 
blockhouse which stood on the north bank of the river, and to 
the north of this blockhouse was an ordinary wooden barn. 
The clearing extended about one hundred yards to the north 
of the blockhouse and about two hundred yards to the 
south of the mill; beyond these points was a thick woods 
which on both sides approached quite close to the mill and 
blockhouse. The mill was occupied by a garrison of one 
hundred and eighty men under the command of Major 
Handcock of the 13th. It consisted of Captain Blake's 
company of that regiment, a small detachment of Frontier 
Light Infantry under Captain Ritter, seventy marines and 
four marine artillerymen. 

General Wilkinson's army commenced its march at ten 
o'clock, but did not arrive in front of the mill until two 
o'clock in the afternoon. The advance had been delayed by 
the road, which was covered with melting snow, and also 
obstructed for some distance by trees which had been felled 
across it. In its march. General Bissel's brigade encountered 
a British picket and lost thirteen men, killed and wounded, 
by its fire. This incident showed the Americans that Major 
Handcock had received notice of their approach. He had 
been early informed of their advance against him, and had 
sent to Isle Aux Noix for reinforcements, which, however, did 
not arrive until the action had commenced. 

When General Wilkinson's army reached the mill, the very 



WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 249 

elaborate plan of operations which he had formed for its 
investment and capture, was fully developed. Colonel 
Clark and Major Forsyth, who commanded the advance, 
were sent across the La Colle to the rear of the blockhouse, 
and were immediately followed by Colonel Miller with his 
regiment of six hundred men. The duty of this detach- 
ment was to cut off the British garrison in case it attempted 
to retreat, and to prevent the arrival of any reinforcements. 
The remainder of Wilkinson's force was drawn up in front of 
the mill. Captain MoPherson with his artillery being covered 
by the brigades of Generals Smyth and Bissel. General 
Macomb commanded the reserves. 

Macomb endeavoured to place an IS-pounder in a favour- 
able position to breach the walls, but the carriage broke and 
it could not be sent forward. McPherson's guns, a 12 and a 
6-pounder, and a o^-inch howitzer were then brought to the 
front, and placed in a good position in the woods about two 
hundred and fifty yards from the mill. They opened fire 
upon it briskly but produced no impression upon its thick 
and honestly built walls. The garrison of the mill responded 
with an equally vigorous fire of musketry. Soon after this 
cannonade conunenced the two flank companies of the 13th 
Regiment, under Captains Ellard and Holgate, arrived from 
Isle Aux Noix, and occupied the blockhouse on the north 
side of La Colle. Major Handcock, who from the nature of 
the ground they occupied was unaware of the strength of 
the enemy, at once ordered these two companies to charge 
the guns. This they did with the utmost intrepidit}', but a 
charge executed by hardly more than one hundred men 
against a numerous force of artillery supported by two bri- 
gades of infantry, could not be successful. Caj^tain Ellard 
was severely wounded and his two companies had to retire to 
the blockhouse. At this moment the grenadier company of 
the Canadian Fencibles under Captain Cartwright, and a 
company of voltigeurs arrived from Burtonville, and a second 
charge was ordered which was headed by Captain Blake of 
the 13th Regiment, The foiu' companies advanced against 



250 THE WAR OF 1812 

the guns with such resolution that the artillerymen deserted 
them, and they were only saved from capture by the power- 
ful force of infantry behind them. This fact was attested to 
both by General Bissel and Lieutenant-Colonel Totten of the 
American engineers, at General Wilkinson's court-martial; 
and Captain McPherson, who commanded the American 
artillery, gave equally strong testimony. "The conduct of 
the enemy that day," said he, ''was distinguished by des- 
perate bravery. As an instance, one company made a charge 
on our artillery, and, at the same instant, received its fire and 
that of two brigades of infantry." 

Major Handcock soon perceived that the enemy was too 
powerful to be driven away, and ordered the four companies 
engaged in the sortie to retire to the blockhouse. The Ameri- 
cans continued to batter the mill with their artillery until 
nearly dark, without in any degree impairing its defensive 
strength, and finally, about six o'clock, they retired from the 
field and retreated by the same road by which they had ad- 
vanced. They had lost thirteen killed, one hundred and 
twenty-eight wounded and thirteen missing, a total of one 
hundred and fifty-four. The British lost eleven killed, forty- 
four wounded and four missing. The whole British force 
engaged that day did not exceed four hundred men, and 
the defence of the post at La Colle was one of the most gal- 
lant affairs of the war. The American general certainly 
showed an incredible amount of stupidity in not ordering 
the occupation of the wooden blockhouse, which was without 
defenders when he advanced, and his officers on the north 
side of the river displayed great negligence in permitting the 
reinforcements from Isle Aux Noix and Burtonville to elude 
them and occupy the blockhouse. In the course of the con- 
test, Captain Bring brought up his sloop and gunboats from 
Isle Aux Noix, and moored them at the entrance of the La 
Colle River, but the fire from his guns did the enemy no harm 
as they were protected by the thick woods. Major Hand- 
cock very prudently did not pursue Wilkinson's retreating 
forces, but they were followed for some distance by a small 



WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 251 

party of Iiuliaiis who had one of their number killed and one 
wounded. During the night, by the active exertions of 
Lieutenants Caswick and Hicks of the Royal Navy, two 
lS-})ounder carronades were brought up from the vessels to 
the blockhouse, but they were not needed, for the enemy had 
disappeared. Wilkinson retreated to Plattsburg, and the La 
Colle episode closed his military career, for a few days later 
he was relieved of his connnand by an order fi'om the war 
department. He was afterwards tried by court-maitial, but 
as he proved that he had acted throughout under the instruc- 
tions of Secretary Arnistrong, he was acquitted. On the 
retirement of Wilkinson, General Brown became commander- 
in-chief in the northern dej^artment. 

General Brown had arrived at Sacketts Harbour with his 
two thousand men from French Mills on the twenty-fourth 
of February, and a few days later received a despatch from 
Secretary Armstrong hi the following terms: "You will 
immediately consult with Commodore Chauncey about the 
readiness of the fleet for a descent on Kingston the moment 
the ice leaves the lake. If he deems it practicable and you 
think you have troops enough to carry it, you will attempt 
the expedition. In such an event you will use the enclosed 
as a nise de guerre.'^ The enclosure thus referred to was in 
the following terms: "Public sentiment will no longer toler- 
ate the possession of Fort Niagara by the enemy. You will 
therefore move the division which you brought from French 
Mills and invest that post. General Tompkins will cooperate 
with you with five hundred militia, and Colonel Scott, who 
is to be made a brigadier, will join you. Y'ou will receive 
your instructions at Onondago Hollow." General Brown 
had for several years been a schoolmaster, but he seemed to 
have forgotten his French, for he did not know the meaning 
of ruse de guerre; neither did Chauncey. At all events, both 
of these capable commanders wholly misunderstood the sec- 
retary's intentions, and Brown set out for the Niagara 
frontier. His force consisted of the 9th, 11th, 21st, and 
25th Regiments of infantry, the 3rd Regiment of artillery 



252 THE WAR OF 1812 

and Captain Towson's company of the 2ncl Regiment of 
artillery, in all more than two thousand men. When Brown 
arrived at Onondago Hollow, there were no instructions at 
that place for him, and General Gaines, with the help of a 
French dictionary, succeeded in convincing the American 
commander that he had made a mistake, and that Kingston 
was the place he had been ordered to attack. Brown accord- 
ingly retraced his steps to Sacketts Harbour. There, Chaun- 
cey, who did not desire any nearer view of Kingston than 
could be had from a spyglass, made Brown believe that the 
first interpretation of the secretary's orders was the correct 
one, and that officer again marched westwards with his army. 
These pendulum-like movements necessarily took a good 
deal of time, and it was the end of March before Brown 
reached Batavia. Here he remained about a month, and 
then moved towards Buffalo. In the meantime he had heard 
from the secretary and been told that he had misunderstood 
his orders. The secretary, however, does not appear to have 
been much worried at the failure of his own plans against 
Kingston, for he wrote Brown: ''If you left the harbour 
with a competent force for its defence, go on and prosper. 
Good consequences are sometimes the result of mistakes." 

Whether Brown had left a competent force at Sacketts 
Harbour for its defence was not tested, for the British made 
no attack upon it. Yet the capture of the place at that time 
would have rendered the Americans utterly powerless in the 
next campaign and would have altogether changed the aspect 
of the contest, for their entire fleet was at Sacketts Harbour. 
Chauncey was nervously apprehensive that the post would be 
attacked, and had three thousand men quietly collected and 
marched against it, its capture would have been certain. 
But Sir George Prevost had no heart for such daring enter- 
prises, and so that American depot on Lake Ontario was left 
unmolested. 

Sir James Yeo displayed a great deal of energy during the 
winter in strengthening his fleet. On the fourteenth of April 
two new frigates, the Prince Regent, 58, and the Princess 



WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 253 

Charlotte, 42, were launched at Kingston, and their rigging 
and equipment were advanced so rapidly that they were 
ready for service on the third of .Ma>'. The Prince Regent, 
the largest of these frigates, was a more heavily armed ship 
than the Constitution, while the Princess Charlotte was a more 
powerful vessel than the Shannon. Commodore Yeo's origi- 
nal six cruisers had all been re-named, some of them re-armed, 
and both the schooners changed into brigs. Besides the two 
large frigates already mentioned, his fleet consisted of the 
ships Montreal, 25, and Niagara, 22, and the brigs Charwell, 
16, Star, 16, Netley, 16, and Magnet, 12. With such a force at 
his disposal, Sir James did not propose to remain idle, and on 
the very day his ships were ready for sea he set sail from 
Kingston for Oswego, which Sir George Prevost had reluc- 
tantly consented to permit him to attack on the urgent repre- 
sentation of Lieutenant-General Drummond and himself. 
Fortunately for the success of the expedition, the commander- 
in-chief did not think it necessary to accompany it in 
person. 

Sir James Yeo, with his fleet, was off Oswego by noon on 
the fifth of May. General Drummond had command of the 
land forces, and the troops embarked with him consisted of 
six companies of De Watteville's Regiment under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Fischer; the light company of the Glengarry Light 
Infantry, under Captain McMillan; the second battalion of 
marines under Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm; a detachment of 
artillery with two fieldpieces, under Captain Cruttenden; a 
detachment of the rocket company, under Lieutenant Ste- 
vens, and a few sappers and miners, under Lieutenant Gosset 
of the engineers, — the whole numbering one thousand and 
eighty rank and file. Oswego was defended by a fortification 
called Fort Ontario, which stood in a commanding ]iosition 
on a bluff on the east side of the river, overlooking the lake. 
The fort, which was star-shaped, covered upwards of three 
acres of ground and mounted six guns, three long 24-pounders, 
a long 12 and two long 6's. The batteries had been recently 
repaired and picketed and new platforms laid for the guns. 



254 THE WAR OF 1812 

The fort had a garrison consisting of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Mitchell's battalion of artillery, numbering upwards of three 
hundred rank and file, in addition to a number of artillery 
and engineer officers. In the river was the United States 
schooner Growler, having on board seven heavy guns and a 
large quantity of stores and ammunition intended for the 
fleet at Sacketts Harbour. 

At three o'clock in the afternoon of the day of their arrival 
at Oswego, the ships lay to, within long gun-shot of the fort, 
and the gunboats, under Captain Collier, were sent close in 
for the purpose of inducing the enemy to show his fire and 
particularly the number and position of his guns. A mutual 
cannonade was kept up for an hour and a half, the Americans 
replying to the British fire with four cannon from the fort, 
and a long ] 2-pounder, which had been posted on the beach. 
The object of this reconnaissance having been fully accom- 
plished, the gunboats withdrew, and arrangements were 
made for the attack which it was intended should be made 
at eight o'clock in the evening. But at sunset a very heavy 
squall came up from the north-west, which blew directly on the 
shore, and compelled the fleet to gain an offing. Four of the 
supply-boats had to be cast adrift; one of them went ashore, 
and this circumstance has enabled some American writers 
like Lossing to concoct a remarkable narrative describing 
the gallant fashion in which the British were driven back by 
the fire from the fort. That evening the British fleet dis- 
appeared from in front of Oswego, but Mitchell was under 
no delusion as to the cause of their departure, and, knowing 
that he might expect them back next day, he sent out mes- 
sengers to bring in the militia, and ordered the commander 
of the Growler to sink that vessel and join him with his forty 
seamen at the fort. Two hundred of the militia of the coun- 
ty, burning with ardent patriotism, came into the fort in the 
course of a few hours, so that the American commander had 
about six hundred men at his disposal, two-thirds of them 
regulars. 

On the morning of the sixth. Sir James Yeo's fleet was 



WILKLNSU.N'S DEFEAT AT LA CULLE 255 

again in front of Oswego, and preparations were at once 
made for an attack. The Princess Charlotte, Montreal and 
Niagara engaged the batteries as close to the shore as the 
depth of the water would permit them. The Magnet took a 
station in front of the town on the opposite side of the river, 
to keep in check any militia who might attempt to enter the 
fort from that quarter, while the Charwell and Star towed 
the boats with the troops, and then covered their landing by 
scouring the woods on the low point towards the foot of the 
hill to the eastward of the fort, by which it was intended to 
advance to the assault. The attacking party consisted of 
the two flank companies of De Watteville's regiment, under 
Captain De Bersey, the light company of the Glengarries, 
under Captain McMillan, these three companies numbering 
one hundred and forty rank and file; the battalion of marines, 
four hundred strong, under Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm; 
and two hundred seamen armed with pikes, under Captain 
Mulcaster. The whole force, numbering about seven hun- 
dred and forty rank and file, was under the immediate com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Fischer of De Watteville's regi- 
ment, but both Lieutenant-General Drummond and Sir 
James Yeo went ashore with the troops. 

The Princess Charlotte drew too much water to get within 
effective range of the batteries, but the Montreal and Niagara 
took stations within a quarter of a mile of the fort and gal- 
lantly performed the service assigned to them, although 
assailed with heavy discharges of red-hot shot which set the 
Montreal on fire three times, and cut her up greatly in her 
hull, masts and rigging. The troops landed in excellent 
order under a heavy fire from the fort, as well as from a con- 
siderable body of the enemy drawn up on the brow of the 
hill and in the woods. They then formed on the beach, and 
while the company of Glengarry Light Lifantry cleared the 
woods on the left and drove the enemy into the fort, the 
marines and sailors and the two flank companies of De Watte- 
ville's Regiment charged gallantly up the hill and carried the 
fort after a very brief struggle. The brave militia took to 



256 THE WAR OF 1812 

their heels the moment the terrible men of Glengarry made 
their appearance in the woods, and the American regulars 
were driven out of the fort within ten minutes of the appear- 
ance of the British on the height on which it stood. Lieut- 
enant-Colonel Mitchell retreated, with what remained of his 
force, to the falls of the Oswego, twelve miles from the lake. 
The American loss was stated in their official returns at six 
killed, thirty-eight wounded and twenty-five missing. The 
British took sixty prisoners, more than half of whom were 
wounded. 

The loss of the British in this spirited affair was twenty- 
two killed, and seventy-three wounded. Among the killed 
was Captain Holloway, of the marines, and among the 
wounded the gallant Captain Mulcaster, who fell while bravely 
leading his sailors against the battery. Lieutenant Laurie, 
of the marines, was the first man to scale the ramparts and 
enter the fort, and Lieutenant Hewett of the same corps, 
climbed the flagstaff under a heavy fire, and in the most 
daring style struck the American colours which had been 
nailed to the mast. 

The capture of Oswego was deemed important because the 
place was a depot of stores passing from New York to Sac- 
ketts Harbour. A large part of these stores had been re- 
moved to the falls previous to the attack, but a very con- 
siderable quantity still remained. The British captured 
thirteen cannon, destroying the six they took in the fort, 
but carried away the three long 32-pounders and four long 
24-pounders sunk in the Growler. They also carried off a 
large supply of shot of various calibres and of ammunition, 
eight hundred barrels of flour, five hundred barrels of bread, 
five hundred barrels of pork, six hundred barrels of salt and 
a large quantity of rope and cordage. They raised the 
Growler and took her away, besides another schooner and 
several boats and smaller craft, and they destroyed the 
barracks and all other public buildings. The Americans 
professed to regard the capture of Oswego as of little moment 
because they did not lose all the stores that had been there, 



WILKINSON'S DEFEAT AT LA COLLE 257 

but the material loss was certainly large and the Jiffair was a 
most humiliating blow to their prestige. 

Sir James Yeo returned to Kingston with the spoils of 
Oswego, and having landed the troops appeared on the 
nineteenth of May off Sacketts Harbour, and began a strict 
blockade of that place. This made the bringing of the 
equipment of the new American warships from Oswego Falls 
to Sacketts Harbour a task of enormous difhculty and 
greatly retarded their completion. Captain Wolsey, of the 
United States navy, undertook to convey the heavy guns 
antl cables of the Superior from the falls to Stoney Creek, 
three miles from Sacketts Harbour, to which they could be 
carried by land. On the evening of the twenty-eighth of 
May, Wolsey, with nineteen boats heavily laden with twen- 
ty-two long 32-pounders, ten 24's, three 42-pounder carronades 
and twelve cables, left Oswego for Stoney Creek. The flotilla 
was protected by Major Appling with one hundred and thirty 
riflemen. An equal number of Oneida Indians were engaged 
to meet the boats at the mouth of Big Salmon River and to 
assist in case of an attack. 

Wolsey found that he could not elude the blockading 
squadron and reach Stoney Creek, so he resolved to run up 
Big Sandy Creek and land his cargo there. All got in safely 
except one boat, laden with two long 24's and a cable, which 
fell into the hands of the British. Sir James Yeo at once 
sent Captains Popham and Spilsbury to attempt the capture 
of the other boats. These officers had with them two gun- 
boats and five barges manned by one hundred and seventy- 
five sailors and marines. They learned that the flotilla had 
got into Big Sandy Creek, and resolved to pursue it up that 
stream. 

The Big Sandy is a narrow stream which flows through a 
level tract which was then covered with trees and bushes. 
On the morning of the thirtieth the British boats and barges 
entered the creek and advanced up it almost to the point 
where the flotilla lay. The British marines were landed on 
the left bank and a party of seamen on the right, to clear the 



258 THE WAR OF 1812 

bushes of any enemies. Wolsey, however, had not only been 
joined by the Indians, but had been reinforced from the 
harbour by a company of Hght artillery with two 6-pounders, 
a squadron of cavalry and about three hundred infantry. 
Appling and his riflemen and the Indians were ambushed 
about half a mile below the American boats, and poured a 
deadly volley into the British as they passed. The too 
adventurous parties of seamen and marines were fairly 
caught in a trap, and, surrounded as they were by a more 
than threefold force of enemies with every advantage of posi- 
tion, they were forced to surrender after losing eighteen 
killed and fifty dangerously wounded. It was certainly an 
enormous piece of folly to attack an enemy in so strong a 
position with such an inadequate force, but at all events, no 
honour was lost by the British in the affair. It was a disaster 
entirely due to over-confidence and rashness, and a neglect 
of those ordinary precautions which are seldom disregarded 
in military matters without the want of forethought bring- 
ing its own punishment. 



CHAPTER XVI 

CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY's LANE 



We now approach the most important campaign of the 
whole war, the one garnished with the names of Chippawa, 
Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie; a campaign which every loyal 
Canadian can regard with feelings of pride. The new Ameri- 
can commander-in-chief had resolved to make one more 
supreme effort to win the Niagara frontier, and he did not 
doubt his ability to march down the north side of Lake 
Ontario and capture Kingston, provided the fleet would 
cooperate with him. In justice to General Brown, it must be 
admitted that he adopted the only method by which success 
was possible, and was unwearied in his efforts to drill and 
discipline his army. The months that had elapsed between 
the close of the last campaign in Lower Canada and the sum- 
mer of 1814, were spent m constant exercises. The troops 
were drilled from seven to ten hours a day, and, as most of 
them had been two years in active service, Brown's army 
had acquired a mobility and ofhciency which no American 
force that had appeared in the hold during the war possessed. 
But this circumstance, while it accounts for the obstinacy 
with which the battles of this campaign were contested, only 
makes the triumph of the British regulars and Canadian 
militia over Brown's force more glorious. 

General Brown was at Buffalo, when on the first of July he 
received orders from Secretary Armstrong to cross the 
Niagara River, carry Fort Erie and beat up "the enemy's 
quarters at Chippawa," and if assured of the cooperation of 
the fleet, to seize and fortify Burlington Heights. The coopera- 
tion of the fleet was considered essential to any permanent 
lodgment at the head of Lake Ontario, for without it. so long 



260 THE WAR OF 1812 

as the British held Fort Niagara and Fort George, the Ameri- 
can hne of communication would be liable to be cut at any 
time if they advanced into the interior of Upper Canada. 
But this codperation was not at this time possible, for 
Chauncey had not yet got out of Sacketts Harbour with his 
new and powerful ships. Indeed, the American commodore 
was not on the lake until the thirty-first of July, and by that 
time the opportunity had passed, for Brown's army had been 
defeated and the survivors of it were fugitives seeking pro- 
tection behind the bastions of Fort Erie. 

On the second of July, Brown issued his orders for crossing 
the river before daylight the following morning. His army 
consisted of two brigades of regular infantry, numbering, 
according to American accounts, two thousand six hundred 
rank and file, commanded by Generals Scott and Ripley. 
To each brigade was attached an efficient train of artillery, 
commanded by Major Hindman and Captain Towson. There 
was also a squadron of dragoons commanded by Captain 
Harris. These were all regulars, and their strength may be 
placed at three thousand one hundred rank and file. There 
was also a third brigade under General Porter composed of 
six hundred New York volunteers, five hundred Pennsyl- 
vania volunteers and six hundred Indian warriors. One hun- 
dred of the New York volunteers were mounted. Brown's 
force immediately available for the invasion of Canada was 
therefore four thousand eight hundred men. Besides these 
he had at different posts between Erie and Lewiston the 
1st Regiment of United States infantry, a regular rifle corps, 
one hundred and fifty Canadian refugee volunteers, and three 
hundred New York volunteers under Colonel Philetus Swift. 
These additions would bring Brown's strength up to fully 
six thousand men, independent of the militia of the state. 
All these figures are from American authorities, but there is 
good reason to believe that they are much too low, for on the 
same authority we are told that Colonel Miller's regiment, the 
21st, mustered six hundred rank and file on the thirtieth of 
March, at La Colle Mill. Yet Miller's regiment was only 



;CHirrA\VA AxND LUNDVri LANE 261 

one of the four that composed Ripley's brigade, the strength 
of which, on the first of July, is stated at one thousand three 
hundred men. It would be singular, indeed, if the average 
strength of the four regiments of Ripley's brigade was only 
three hundred and twenty-five, and still more singular that 
one regiment should number six hundred men, and the other 
three average only one hundred and seventy-five men each, 
at the very beginning of the campaign. 

The British force on the Niagara frontier, including the 
garrisons of Fort Erie, Fort George, Fort Niagara, Mississagua 
and the post at Burlington Heights, did not exceed one 
thousand eight hundred men. It was under the command of 
Major-General Riall, who is described by an officer who 
served under him at this time, as a gallant man, but possessed 
of very little mihtary skill, who had attained his rank by the 
purchase of all purchasable grades. This criticism seems to 
be amply justified by the fact that Riall left a garrison of one 
hundred and seventy men of the 8th and lOOth Regiments 
without proper defensive works in Fort Erie, where they were 
certain to be captured if the enemy advanced in force. On 
the morning of the third of July, General Scott's brigade 
crossed the Niagara River, and landed below Fort Erie un- 
molested. General Ripley soon afterwards landed with his 
brigade above the fort, which was immediately invested and 
summoned to surrender. Aft-er the exchange of a few cannon 
shots, by which one British soldier was killed and seven 
Amerians killed and wounded, Major Buck surrendered Fort 
Erie, and he and his men became prisoners of war. The place, 
no doubt, was incapable of successful defence, but had it been 
otherwise and Buck in a position to maintain himself for a few 
days, General Brown might have had reason to regret his 
rashness in crossing the Niagara River as he did w^ith an un- 
captured fort in front of him and an enterprising enemy on his 
flank. As it was, Fort Erie was taken without any serious 
resistance, and the Americans became possessed of a place of 
retreat to which they could fly in the event of any great dis- 
aster to their armv. 



252 ■ THE WAR OF 1812 

The nearest British force to Fort Erie at this time was at 
Chippawa, where there were less than eight hundred regulars 
and about three hundred sedentary militia. General Riall, 
who received the news of the American invasion about eight 
o'clock on the same morning, immediately ordered five com- 
panies of the Royal Scots to Chippawa under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Gordon to reinforce the garrison of that place, and 
sent out Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson of the 100th Regiment 
with the flank companies of that corps, some militia of the 
2nd Lincoln Regiment and a few Indians to reconnoitre the 
enemy's position and ascertain his numbers. The Americans 
were seen to be posted on the ridge parallel to the river near 
the ferry opposite Black Rock and in strong force. As the 
8th Regiment, which was hourly expected from York, had not 
arrived, General Riall did not deem it prudent to make an 
attack that day. On the following morning General Scott 
advanced towards Chippawa with his brigade, which con- 
sisted of the 9th, 11th, 22nd and 25th Regiments of infantry 
accompanied by Towson's artillery corps. He was followed 
later by Ripley's brigade, composed of the 17th, 19th, 21st and 
23rd Regiments of infantry with Hindman's artillery, and by 
Porter's brigade of volunteers. Scott's brigade encountered 
the British advance consisting of the light companies of the 
Royal Scots and 100th Regiment and a few of the 19th Dra- 
goons, under Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson. There was some 
slight skirmishing, as the light companies retired, by the 
dragoons, in which the latter had four men wounded. The 
bridge over Street's Creek was destroyed by Pearson's men, 
his little detachment being at that moment threatened by a 
flank attack from a body of artillery and infantry which had 
crossed the creek at a point some distance above the bridge. 
The bridge was repaired by the American pioneers and their 
army crossed over while Pearson and his men retired beyond 
the Chippawa. The Americans encamped that night on the 
south bank of the creek close to the Niagara River. The 
British camp was north of the Chippawa River. 

Between Street's Creek and the Chippawa River is a tract 




Trooper of the 19th Light Dragoons 

Two squadrons of this Regiment took part in the Campaigns of 1813-14. on the 
Niagara Frontier. 



264 THE WAR OF 1812 

of level land a mile and a half in length and flanked on the east 
side by the Niagara River, along one side of which the road 
from Fort Erie to Queenston passes. This plain in 1814 was 
about half a mile in width, and was bounded on the west side 
by a forest. It was here on the fifth of July that the battle of 
Chippawa was fought. 

General Riall had been joined that morning by the first 
battalion of the 8th Regiment, four hundred and eighty 
strong, and his force now consisted of that corps, five hundred 
of the Royal Scots, four hundred and fifty of the 100th Regi- 
ment, one troop numbering about seventy of the 19th 
Dragoons and thirty of the Royal Artillery with two light 
24-pounders and a 5|-inch howitzer, in all one thousand five 
hundred and thirty rank and file of regulars. With these 
were three hundred militia, mostly of the 2nd Lincoln, under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Dixon and Major David Secord, and about 
three hundred Indians, or about two thousand one hundred 
and thirty rank and file in all. The American force at Street's 
Creek consisted of the infantry brigades of Scott and Ripley 
numbering two thousand six hundred, four hundred artillery 
with nine fieldpieces and howitzers, one hundred cavalry and 
six hundred New York volunteers, five hundred Pennsylvania 
volunteers and six hundred Indians under General Porter; or 
four thousand eight hundred men altogether. 

General Riall, whose position on the Chippawa was strong 
and not easily turned, might have been readily excused, if, 
with his force so greatly inferior in numbers, he had remained 
on the defensive, but he was resolved to attack the enemy and 
made his dispositions accordingly. The British forces crossed 
the Chippawa and advanced to the attack about four o'clock 
in the afternoon. The position occupied by the American 
army had been well chosen for defence. Its right rested on 
some buildings and orchards close to the Niagara River, and 
was strongly supported by artillery, and its left on the woods 
which were occupied by Porter's brigade. The British ad- 
vance consisted of three hundred Lincoln militia, the light 
companies of the Royal Scots, and of the 100th Regiment and 



CHIPPAWA AND LUXDY'S LANE 265 

three hundred Indians. The latter, who were in front, in 
traversing the woods, for the most part, kept too far to the 
right, and only about eighty of them, under Captain Kerr, 
were brought into action.. This small bo'dy of Indians en- 
countered General Porter with three; hundred Pennsylvania 
volunteers, six hundred Indians and eighty regulars, as he 
advanced through the woods on the left of the American line, 
and fell back on the militia. Lossing tells his readers: 
"The Indians, led by their war chief, were allowed to conduct 
their share of the battle as they pleased ; and when the enemy 
had delivered his fire, they rushed forward with horrid yells, 
spreading consternation in the ranks of the foe, and making 
fearful havoc with the tomahawk and scalping knife." This 
is the same Lossing who states that the Indians were engaged 
to become a lies of the Americans, ''on the explicit under- 
standing that they were not to kill the enemy who were 
wounded or taken prisoners, or to take scalps." He fairly 
gloats over the manner in which the American Indians plied 
the scalping knife. They fought "desperately hand to hand 
in many instances, and in every way w^on the applause of their 
commanding general." "But," he sadly adds, "the tide of 
fortune soon changed." It did indeed. Almost at the same 
moment that the Indians fell back on the militia, the two 
light companies joined the latter, and Porter's nine hundred 
volunteers and Indians and eighty regulars received such a 
deadly fire and were charged with such fury that they in- 
stantly broke and fled, and even Lossing has to admit that 
their retreat "became a tumultuous rout." The three hun- 
dred Pennsylvanians got out of the reach of danger with such 
alacrity that only three of them were killed and two wounded. 
They were pursued to Street's Creek, where their flight was 
checked by the advance of Ripley's brigade on the extreme 
left, and of the 25th Regiment under Major Jessop. 

General Riall's main body advanced in three columns, the 
8th Regiment being in front. Towson's artillery with four 
guns was posted on the American right and the four regi- 
ments of Scott's brigade, the 22nd, 9th, 11th and 25th were 



266 THE WAR OF 1812 

stationed in the order given from right to left. To the left of 
Scott's brigade was the 19th Regiment of Ripley's brigade, 
and that general with his remaining three regiments was 
moving through the woods with a view to turning the British 
left. Such was the posture of affairs when Porter's brigade 
was broken and compelled to fly as already described. To 
the south of Street's Creek the batteries of Ritchie and Hind- 
man were posted in a commanding position, while Biddle's 
battery was advanced on the left in the rear of Scott's brigade. 
Thus each of the enemy's nine fieldpieces was brought into a 
position where it could be most effective. 

General Riall placed his two light 24-pounders and a 5|-inch 
howitzer against the right of the enemy's position and formed 
the Royal Scots and 100th Regiments with the intention 
of making a movement upon the American left. The 25th 
Regiment on Scott's extreme left deployed and opened a 
very heavy fire upon the British, upon which Riall im- 
mediately moved up the 8th Regiment to the right, while 
the Royal Scots and 100th Regiments were directed to charge 
the enemy in front. This charge was most gallantly exe- 
cuted, but the ground over which the soldiers had to pass was 
very uneven and covered with long grass, and the fire of the 

. enemy's infantry and artillery was so heavy that the charge 
had to be abandoned after both regiments had lost nearly half 
their number in killed and wounded. Riall, seeing that any 
further effort could only result in greater losses without com- 
pensating advantage, ordered his troops to retire upon Chip- 
pawa. His order was executed with the greatest regularity, 
the retreat being covered by the 8th Regiment and the light 
companies of the two other regiments engaged. Hardly a 
prisoner, except those disabled, was taken by the enemy. 
One of the 24-pounders had been disabled by a shot which 
blew up its ammunition wagon, but it was carried off in 
safety under the protection of the troop of the 19th Dragoons. 

.The British force retired beyond the Chippawa River, the 
bridge over which was destroyed. A part of Scott's brigade 
which ventured to approach this bridge was very speedily 



CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 267 

driven back by tlic fire of tho tete-do-pont battery at its 
northern end. 

The gallantry of the British army was never more signally 
displayed than in the battle of ('hi])jxnva. and its losses were 
very severe. Three captains, three sul)alterns, seven ser- 
geants and one hmidred and thirty-five rank and file were 
killed; three field-officers, five captains, eighteen subalterns, 
eighteen sergeants, and two hundred and seventy-seven rank 
and file were wounded; and one subaltern, one sergeant, and 
forty- four rank and file were missing. Of the latter, nearly all 
were killed or wounded, only fourteen unwounded prisoners 
being taken by the Americans. The total British loss was 
therefore five huiKh'ed and fifteen, the Royal Scots losing two 
hundred and twenty-eight men out of five hundred in the field, 
of whom sixty-three were killed, and the 100th Regiment 
losing two hundred and five out of four hundred and fifty men 
engaged, of whom seventy were killed on the spot. The Lin- 
coln militia lost twelve killed, sixteen wounded and fifteen 
missing. Among the slain were Captains Rowe and Turney 
and Lieutenant McDonell. General Riall in his official re- 
port spoke in the highest terms of the conduct of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Dixon and of the officers and men of the 2nd Lincoln 
militia. Their losses, which were much greater than those of 
the British 8th Regiment, show how closely they were en- 
gaged. The Americans had sixty-one killed, two hundred and 
fifty-five wounded and nineteen missing; a grand total of 
three hundred and thirty-five. 

The Americans claim the battle of Chippawa as a victory, 
and it was so in the sense that an army which attempts to 
drive an enemy's force from the field antl fails to do so, is 
defeated. Lossing. with his usual mendacity, states that the 
American troops engaged niunbered only one thousand 
three hundred and the British one thousand seven hundred. 
The British and militia on the field, as we have already 
shown, numbered one thousand eight hundred and thirty, 
while the American returns show that five of their infantry 
regiments were under fire besides their artillerv and Peim- 



268 THE WAR OF 1812 

sylvania volunteers, to say nothing of the Indians. As 
Scott's brigade, according to American returns, numbered 
one thousand tliree hundred men; the 19th Regiment of Rip- 
ley's brigade, three hundred and fifty men; the artillery four 
hundred and the Pennsylvania volunteers actually engaged 
three hundred; we have an aggregate of two thousand three 
hundred and fifty white troops who suffered loss in the battle. 
But it is a novel doctrine that the two hundred Pennsylvania 
volunteers, the six hundred New York volunteers, the squad- 
ron of cavalry held in reserve, and the three regiments 
of Ripley's brigade which were stealing through the woods on 
the British right flank, and whose presence there virtually 
decided the battle, should not be counted as part of the 
American force. If there had been no enemy on the British 
right flank, the 8th Regiment, which was hardly engaged at 
all, would have made very short work of the American troops 
in front of it, and the battle would have been won. It was lost 
because the British had more than two to one against them, 
because Riall's attack was improvidently made, and because 
he was enormously overmatched in artillery, having only 
three guns to oppose nine, and those three of a class not 
capable of being readily moved from one part of the field to 
another. General Riall would have acted more wisely if he 
had stood on the defensive, and many valuable lives would 
have been saved. 

Brown remained inactive on the two days which followed 
the battle, but on the eighth he prepared to advance. The 
passage of the Chippawa River at the bridge appeared to him 
to involve too much risk, but a way was pointed out by 
which he could cross the river at a point higher up. Riall 
found that with his insufficient artillery it would be impos- 
sible for him to oppose the American advance, his force being 
now reduced to about one thousand three hundred rank and 
file of white troops, so on the morning of the eighth he broke 
camp and retired to Fort George. The bridge over the Chip- 
pawa had been destroyed by his orders, but by the help of 
their boats the greater part of the American army succeeded 



CHIPPAWA AND LUXDY'S LANE 



269 



in crossing the river the same day, antl on the tenth they en- 
camped at Queenston. Riall reached Fort George on the 
evening of the eighth and was there joined by the Glengarry 
Regiment, three hundred and fifty strong, and three humh'ed 



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Fort Mississagua 

This Fort was situated at the mouth of the Niagara River, opposite Fort Niagara 
(U.S.). which can be seen in the distance. 



incorporated niihtia, recently arrived from York. Leaving 
in their places at this fort and Fort Mississagua, which had 
been recently erected, what was left of the 100th Regiment, 
and detachments of the 8th and Royal Scots, he started on 
the morning of the ninth for Burlington Heights to effect a 
junction with the 103rd Regiment and the flank companies of 
the 104th. He was fortunate enough to meet these reinforce- 
ments at Twenty Mile Creek, and with a force now increased 
to about two thousand regulars and militia he marched back 
to Fifteen Mile Creek, thirteen miles from the American camp 
at Queenston, and there took up his station to await the fur- 
ther movements of the enemy. 

When Brown crossed the Niagara River to invade Canada, 
he issued a general order in which he instructed his troops 



270 THE WAR OF 1812 

that private property was in all cases to be held sacred, and 
that plundering was prohibited and would be punished with 
death. This order was wholly disregarded, and from the 
hour when Brown's army touched the soil of Canada, plunder- 
ing, incendiarism, and other crimes against the laws of civil- 
ized warfare were of daily occurrence. The principal actors 
in these scenes of misery and distress were the volunteers 
from New York state, the brothers and relatives of the men 
who stood on their constitutional rights in the autumn of 
1812, and saw their countrymen slaughtered and captured 
on Queenston Heights without trying to save them. On 
the twelfth of July, Brigadier-General Swift and one hundred 
and twenty of these volunteers were sent out from Queens- 
ton towards Fort George to reconnoitre. Advancing close 
to one of the outposts they came upon a corporal and 
five men, part of a patrolling party of thirty-two rank and 
file from the light company of the 8th, under Major Evans 
of that regiment. In attempting to capture these men, a 
British private shot and mortally wounded General Swift. 
The British fell back on the rest of the patrol who had in- 
stantly advanced on hearing the fire, and although the volun- 
teers attempted to surround them the whole party escaped 
without loss. This affair was made the pretext for reprisals 
on the part of the volunteers, and as the peaceful inhabitants 
were less able to defend themselves than the military, the 
former had to bear the consequences of American revenge 
for the fall of Swift. 

A week after Swift's death, Colonel Stone, of the New 
York militia, wantonly burned the village of St. Davids. 
For this Stone was dismissed from the service without a 
trial, but this act, which became the more conspicuous be- 
cause it was done within three miles of General Brown's 
camp, was but a type of the conduct of the American volun- 
teers and militia at this time. Decent officers of the regu- 
lar service of the United States looked upon the proceed- 
ings with great disfavour. Major McFarland, of the 23rd 
United States infantry, in a letter dated the twenty-fifth 



CHIPPAWA AM) LUNDY'S LANE 271 

of July, writes thus of the St. Davids affair and the con- 
duct of the niiUtia and Indians: ''The miUtia and Indians 
plundered and burnt everything. The whole poi:»ulation is 
against us; not a foraging purty but is fired on, and not infre- 
quently returns with missing numbers. This state was to 
be anticipated. The Indians were sent off some days since, 
as they were found useless except to plunder. The militia 
have burnt several private dwelling-houses, and on the nine- 
teenth instant burnt the village of St. Davids, consisting of 
about thirty or forty houses. This was done within three 
miles of camp; and my battalion was sent to cover the 
retreat, as they (the militia) had been sent to scour the 
country of some Indians and rangers, and it was presumed 
they might be pursued. My God! What a service! I 
have never witnessed such a scene, and had not the com- 
manding officer of the party, Lieutenant-Colonel Stone, been 
disgraced and sent out of the army, I should have handed 
in my sheepskin." Here we have the testimony of a respect- 
able American officer as to the disgraceful doings of his own 
countrymen, and the weight of his evidence is enhanced by 
the fact that Major ]\IcFarland was killed at Lundy's Lane, 
while gallantly leading his regiment, on the afternoon of the 
same day that this very letter was written. 

General Brown had been promised the cooperation of 
Chauncey's fleet on the Niagara frontier as early as the tenth 
of July, but it did not come. On the thirteenth, he wrote 
to Chauncey in moving terms, begging him to hasten to his 
assistance. ''All accounts agree,'' said he, "that the force 
of the enemy in Kingston is very light. Meet me on the lake 
shore, north of Fort George, with your fleet, and we will be 
able, I have no doubt, to settle a plan of operations that will 
break the power of the enemy in Upper Canada, and that in 
the course of a short time. At all e\Tnts, let me hear from 
you. I have looked for your fleet with the greatest anxiety, 
since the tenth. I do not doubt my ability to meet the 
enemy in the field, and march in any direction over his 
country, your fleet carrying for me the necessary supplies. 



272 THE WAR OF 1812 

We can threaten Forts George and Niagara, and carry Bur- 
lington Heights and York, and proceed direct to Kingston 
and carry that place. For God's sake let me see you. Sir 
James will not fight. Two of his vessels are now in the 
Niagara River. If you conclude to meet me at the head of 
the lake, and that immediately, have the goodness to bring 
the guns and troops that I have ordered from Sacketts 
Harbour." General Brown was certainly very much to be 
pitied, for Chauncey, with the timidity of a hare, had the 
obstinacy of a mule, and a very high idea of his own im- 
portance. There is something grotesque in his reply to 
Brown's appeal for aid: "I shall," said he, ''afford every 
assistance in my power to cooperate with the army whenever 
it can be done without losing sight of the great object for the 
attainment of which this fleet has been created — the capture 
or destruction of the enemy's fleet. But that I consider the 
primary object. We are intended to seek and fight the 
enemy's fleet, and I shall not be diverted from my efforts to 
effectuate it by any sinister attempt to render us subordinate 
to, or an appendage of, the army." This, no doubt, was a 
fine example of American independence, but it was rather 
hard on the general who had undertaken to invade Canada. 

On the fourteenth, the day after he wrote to Chauncey, 
General Brown called a council of his officers. He had heard 
of Riall's movement to Fifteen Mile Creek, but not of his 
having been reinforced, and he now questioned them as to 
whether Riall should be attacked or Fort George invested. 
Brown stated the force under General Riall at two thousand 
and fifty men, which was almost the exact number, and his 
own force at two thousand seven hundred regulars and one 
thousand volunteers, militia and Indians. Generals Ripley 
and Porter, and the engineer officers, McRee and Wood, 
advised an immediate attack on Riall, while General Scott 
and Adjutant-General Gardner advised the investment of 
Fort George. The latter advice coincided with Brown's own 
views, and he resolved to adopt it. On the following day 
Generals Ripley and Porter with their brigades were ordered 



CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 273 

to reconnoitre Fort George, and on the twentieth Brown 
moved forward the remainder of his army from Queenston 
towards that fort. On the following tlay he learned for 
the first time that Riall had been reinforced and had retired 
to Queenston, which he re-occupied on the twenty-second. 
Brown in all his movements at this time showed a great deal 
of timitlity. On the twenty-third he received a letter from 
General Gaines, who was at Sacketts Harbour, informing 
him that Chauncey was sick and the American fleet in port, 
so that no cooperation was to be expected in that quarter. 
Brown at once ordenvl a retreat upon Chippawa. He states 
in his official despatch that his determination was to dis- 
encumber himself of baggage and march directly to Bur- 
lington Heights, and that his retirement to Chippawa was 
to mask this intention and draw from Schlosser a small 
supply of provisions. On the night of the twenty-fourth, 
General Brown, with the bulk of his army, encamped on the 
south bank of the Chippawa; the same night, General Riall's 
advance under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson 
was pressing on through the darkness towards the Niagara 
River, and at seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty- 
fifth stood on the memorable battleheld which that day 
was to be consecrated by their valour, Lundy's Lane. 

The British advance was composed of the Glengarry 
Regiment, three hundred and fifty strong, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Battersby, forty men of the 104th, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Drummond, the incorporated militia, three hundred 
in number, under Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson, about two 
hundred sedentary militia of the county of Lincoln, under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Parry of the 103rd, Major Lisle's troop 
of the 19th Dragoons, and a detachment of artillery with 
two 24-pounders and a howitzer, and three 6-pounders, in 
all about nine hundred and eighty rank and file. The main 
body of Riall's army under Colonel Scott, which he had 
ordered to follow the advance at three o'clock on the morning 
of the twenty-fifth, was composed of the 103rd Regiment, 
about five hundred strong, the remaining men of the two 



274 THE WAR OF 1812 

flank companies of the 104th, fifty men of the Royal Scots, 
three hundred and thirty of the 8th and three hundred seden- 
tary mihtia, or about one thousand two hundred and seventy 
rank and file. Had these troops marched at the hour ordered, 
they would have joined the advanced detachment during the 
forenoon, and the battle of Lundy's Lane would probably never 
have been fought. But although under arms at that hour, 
the order for their march was countermanded, and they did 
not move until past mid-day, and did not arrive on the field 
of battle until after nine at night. In the meantime, great 
deeds had been done on that famous field which overlooks 
the world's greatest cataract. 

General Brown in his camp at Chippawa was wholly un- 
aware of the presence of the British advance at Lundy's 
Lane, only three miles distant, but about noon a courier 
arrived from Colonel Swift who commanded a party of New 
York volunteers at Lewiston, advising him that the British 
were in considerable force at Queenston and on the heights 
above it, that four ships of the British fleet had arrived on the 
preceding night and were then lying near Fort Niagara, and 
that a number of boats were in view moving up the river. 
A few minutes after this intelligence had been received, 
he was further informed by Captain Denman, of the 
quartermaster's department, that the British were landing at 
Lewiston and that his baggage and stores at Schlosser were in 
danger of immediate capture. This alarming news led Brown 
to believe that a raid on the American frontier was contem- 
plated, and he conceived that the best way to divert 
the British from that object was to re-occupy Queenston. 
General Scott was accordingly directed to advance with his 
brigade and perform that duty, and he left the American 
camp between four and five o'clock in the afternoon in pro- 
found ignorance of the fact that Riall's advance army was 
but three miles away. 

The cause of the sudden appearance of a British force at 
Lewiston, which had so much alarmed and astonished General 
Brown, must now be related. General Drummond was at 



CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 275 

Kingston when the news of the battle of Chippawa arrived 
there, and he instantly marched to York with the available 
force of the second battalion of the 89th Regiment, about four 
hundred rank and file, leaving orders for De Watteville's 
Regiment to follow. On the evening of the twenty-fourth 
he embarked at York with his reinforcements on board four 
vessels of Sir James Yeo's fleet, and arrived at Fort Niagara 
at daylight on the twenty-fifth. There he learned from 
Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker that General Riall was l)elieved to 
be moving towards the Falls of Niagara to support the ad- 
vance of his division, which he had pushed on to that place 
the preceding evening. In consequence of this intelligence, 
General Drumniond ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, the 
distinguished officer who won the battle at Chrystler's Field, 
to advance to the falls with the 89th and detachments of 
the Royal Scots and the 8th drawn from Forts George and 
Mississagua, and unite with Riall. At the same time he 
ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker to proceed up the right 
bank of the Niagara River with three hundred of the 41st 
and about two hundred of the Royal Scots and a body of 
Indians, supported on the river by a party of seamen under 
Captain Dobbs of the Charwell. The object of this movement 
was to disperse or capture the party of volunteers and some 
other troops under Colonel Swift, which were encamped at 
Lewiston. Some unavoidable delay which occurred in the 
march of Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker's troops gave Swift and 
his two hundred volunteers an opportunity of escaping to 
Schlosser, from which place they crossed over and joined 
Brown at Chippawa. The British captured about nine hun- 
dred tents at Lewiston and a quantity of baggage and 
provisions belonging to Brown's army, after which they 
crossed over to Queenston and joined Morrison's command. 
Here General Drummond refreshed his troops, and, having 
sent back the 41st, except the light company, and the 100th 
Regiment to garrison the three forts at the mouth of the 
river, hastened forward with the 89th Regiment, the detach- 
ments of the Royal Scots and the 8th Regiment, and the 



276 THE WAR OF 1812 

light company of the 41st, in all less than eight hundred and 
fifty men, to join General Riall's division at the falls. 

While General Drummond was thus advancing from the 
north to Niagara, General Scott was moving towards the 
same point from the south. This officer had with him his 
own brigade, consisting of the 9th, 11th, 22nd, and 25th 
Regiments of infantry, a troop of regular cavalry under 
Captain Harris, one hundred New York volunteer cavalry 
under Captain Pentland, and Towson's artillery with two 
fieldpieces. American authorities place this force at ''full 
one thousand two hundred," but Scott had with him at 
least one thousand four hundred and fifty rank and file. 
His four regiments, which numbered one thousand three 
hundred men, had lost two hundred and fifty at Chippawa 
twenty days before, but one of them, the 22nd, had been 
reinforced by one hundred men that very day, which would 
give him an infantry force of at least one thousand one hun- 
dred and fifty, even in the improbable event of none of the 
other regiments having been reinforced, or of none of the 
slightly wounded having returned to the ranks. 

At the house of Mrs. Wilson, opposite the falls, Scott 
for the first time learned that the British occupied the ground 
about Lundy's Lane. He at once despatched a mounted 
aid to General Brown for reinforcements, and pushed forward 
towards the British front. Brown immediately ordered Gen- 
eral Ripley with his brigade and all the artillery to hasten 
to the support of Scott, and left for the scene of action after 
giving directions for Porter to follow as speedily as possible 
with his brigade of volunteers. Scott advanced to Lundy's 
Lane under the belief that the British force in front of him 
must be weak, and he was confirmed in this view when he 
saw that it had retired from its position. General Riall, 
who was with the British advance, did not deem it prudent 
to await an attack with so few troops, for he thought 
the whole American army was advancing against him, so 
he prudently ordered a retreat, a step which would certainly 
not have been necessary had his main body marched from 




BATTLE OF 



LUNDY'S LANE 



278 THE WAR OF 1812 

Twelve Mile Creek at the hour originally designed. Riall 
directed Colonel Pearson with his advance to retire to Queens- 
ton, and sent similar orders to Colonel Scott, who with the 
main body of the army was now advancing from Twelve 
Mile Creek. 

When General Drummond reached the vicinity of Lundy's 
Lane with his detachment, he met Colonel Pearson's com- 
mand in full retreat, and was amazed to learn that the main 
body of Riall's army, so far from having arrived, had been 
ordered to retire to Queenston. He found Riall's position 
almost in the occupation of the enemy whose columns 
were within six hundred yards of the hill, while the sur- 
rounding woods were filled with his light troops. Drum- 
mond instantly countermanded the orders which had been 
given for a retreat, and formed his line of battle. At a dis- 
tance of about half a mile from the Niagara River the road 
from Chippawa to Queenston runs in a northerly direction. 
From this road, and at right angles to it, runs Lundy's* 
Lane going to the westward. The lane passes over an emi- 
nence of no great elevation which slopes towards the south. 
On this hill to the south of the lane, Drummond placed his 
guns, two 24-pounders, two 6-pounders, and one 5^-inch 
howitzer. Behind these guns, which formed the centre of 
his position, and in the rear of the hill, he placed the 89th 
Regiment, the Royal Scots detachment and the light com- 
pany of the 41st Regiment, their left resting on the Queenston 
Road. On the left of this road the battalion of incorporated 
militia and the detachment of the 8th Regiment were placed, 
the squadron of the 19th Light Dragoons being in the rear 
on the road. Drummond's right, which formed an obtuse 
angle with the centre, consisted of the Glengarry Regiment 
and the half company of the 104th, and was placed in the 
woods a little advanced so as to flank any attack from that 
quarter. Drummond's entire force present in the field, 
including artillery and cavalry, was less than eight hundred 
rank and file. 

The sudden retirement of the British from their position 



CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 279 

at Lundy's Lane, and their equally sudden re-occupation 
of it, committed General Scott to an attack which a more 
prudent commander would have avoided. As he rushed 
impetuously up the hill he discovered that instead of being 
deserted it was strongly held by Drummond's little army. 
Scott's attack was commenced about half-past six o'clock 
and was made mainly against the British left on the Queens- 
ton Road. The east and west sides of this road were held 
respectively by the battalion of the incorporated militia 
and the 89th Regiment, and against them Scott placed three 
of his regiments. His other regiment, the 25th, under Major 
Jessop, had been sent through the bushes on the extreme 
British left so that they might be threatened with a flank 
attack in that quarter while Scott was attacking them on 
the Queenston Road. The smallness of Drummond's force 
made it impossible for him to occupy the whole line between 
Lundy's Lane and the river, and Jessop was thus able, with- 
out any serious contest, to establish himself in the space 
between the extreme left of the British and the river, but 
at this stage of the battle he attempted nothing more. 
On the Queenston Road the contest was fierce; the 89th 
and the militia battalion resisted every effort of the enemy, 
and Scott's brigade was driven back with heavy loss. His 
whole force would have been destroyed had it been possible 
to advance the British wing against his flank, but the near 
approach of the enemy's reinforcements rendered such a 
movement hazardous, and it was not attempted. 

Scott had been engaged, according to General Brown's 
report, "not less than an hour," when he was reinforced by 
the brigades of Ripley and Pqrter, and the whole of the artil- 
lery. Ripley's four regiments of infantry had sustained 
hardly any loss in the battle of Chippawa, and now numbered 
about one thousand two hundred and eighty rank and file. 
They had been joined that very day by the 1st Regiment, 
two hundred and fifty strong, and were accompanied by 
Hindman's corps of artillery. Ripley's brigade, therefore, 
numbered one thousand six hundred and thirtv rank and 



280 THE WAR OF 1812 

file. Porter's brigade consisted originally of six hundred 
New York volunteers and five hundred Pennsylvania troops. 
The mounted men of the New York contingent, one hundred 
in number, had accompanied Scott, but Porter had been 
joined by two hundred additional New York volunteers 
under Colonel Swift, and he had under his command one 
hundred and fifty Canadian or traitor volunteers under 
the infamous Wilcox. Porter's infantry, therefore, num- 
bered one thousand three hundred and fifty and the reserve 
artillery about two hundred. The entire strength of the 
reinforcements under Ripley and Porter, which joined Scott 
within an hour after the commencement of the battle of 
Lundy's Lane, would, therefore, be three thousand two hun- 
dred men, which, with Scott's original force of one thousand 
four hundred and fifty, would make upwards of four thousand 
six hundred which the Americans brought into the field 
that day. During the two hours which followed the arrival 
of Ripley and Porter on the field, the British had to contend 
against an almost threefold superiority of force, for no rein- 
forcements reached General Drummond until after nine 
o'clock. 

It was now after sunset and was rapidly growing dark. 
As General Scott's brigade had suffered severely, Brown 
withdrew the three regiments of it which were making a 
direct attack on each side of the Queenston Road, and 
replaced them with the fresh troops of Ripley's brigade. 
At the same time Porter's brigade of volunteers was advanced 
on the left to attack the British right. The accession of 
these fresh combatants naturally put a severe strain upon 
the British, and the determined attack that was made on 
the centre of their position weakened their left wing. 

This enabled Jessop with his 25th Regiment to force 
back the troops on the British left, and for a short time 
obtain possession of the Queenston Road, during which 
period General Riall, who had been severely wounded and 
was passing to the rear to have his wounds dressed, acci- 
dentally rode into a party of the enemy in the darkness, 



CHllTAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 281 

and was taken prisoner with his aide, Captain Loring. This 
was the only advantage the momentary occupation of the 
road gave the enemy, for the mihtia battahon and the detach- 
ment of the 8th which had been forced back, formed in the 
rear of the 89th fronting the road, and so secured the flank. 
In a few minutes the advanced position of the American 
right became untenable, and they were driven off the road 
and back to their own line with the loss of about one-third 
of their force. 

The British guns, which were in front of the centre of 
their position, were causing great havoc among the enemy, 
and General Brown saw readily enough that, unless they 
could be silenced, the battle was lost, notwithstanding his 
great superiority of force. The guns were defended by the 
light company of the 41st, and three hundred and twenty 
men of the Royal Scots, both of which had already suffered 
severe losses. General Brown now ordered Colonel James 
Miller, of the 21st, to take his regiment and attack, and, 
if possible, capture the British guns on the heights. Detach- 
ments of the 17th and 19th United States infantry were 
assigned to him to aid in the movement, and the 1st Regi- 
ment of United States infantry under Colonel Nicholas 
was ordered to advance on the left and make a feigned attack, 
in order to withdraw the attention of the British from 
the real object of the movement. The 23rd Regiment of 
United States infantry was also ordered to support Miller. 
It will thus be seen that the attack on the British guns, 
instead of being made by but one regiment, as American 
writers almost unanimously assert, was made by about seven 
hundred men belonging to three separate regiments, and 
was supported by seven hundred more comprising the 
effective force of two other regiments. The 1st Regiment 
was now thrown against the right of the British centre, but 
was received with such a deadly volley by the troops there, 
and charged so fiercely with the bayonet, that it broke 
and fled, and was rallied with great difficulty. This repulse, 
however discreditable to the regiment, served Miller's pur- 



282 THE WAR OF 1812 

pose very well, for it enabled him to creep up in the dark- 
ness to within a few feet of the British guns without being 
discovered. A volley of musketry stretched the gunners 
on the ground, either dead or wounded, and before the British 
infantry supports could advance all Drummond's artillery 
was in the hands of the enemy. The 23rd Regiment was 
now brought up to the support of Miller, and the 1st Regi- 
ment, which had been rallied, was placed on his left. The 
British infantry in the centre, now greatly reduced in num- 
bers, made two or three spirited charges to recover the can- 
non, but the Americans were too strong to be dislodged at 
that time. 

It was now after nine o'clock and very dark, but the rein- 
forcements under Colonel Scott were rapidly approaching. 
These numbered, as already stated, about one thousand two 
hundred and seventy rank and file, and comprised the 103rd 
Regiment, about three hundred sedentary militia, detach- 
ments of the Royal Scots and 104th Regiment, the remainder 
of the 8th Regiment, and a few artillerymen with two 6- 
pounders. Unfortunately, owing to the extreme darkness 
of the night, the 103rd Regiment and the sedentary militia 
under Colonel Hamilton, with the two fieldpieces, passed 
by mistake into the centre of the American army now 
posted on the hill, and after sustaining a very heavy and 
destructive fire fell back in confusion. These troops were 
rallied by the active exertions of their officers and placed 
in the second line, as were Scott's other reinforcements, 
except the company of Royal Scots and the flank com- 
panies of the 104th with which General Drummond pro- 
longed his front line to the right, so as to guard against the 
danger of being outflanked in that quarter. A determined 
effort was now made to recover the guns which the enemy 
had taken, and it was finally successful. The Americans 
were driven back, and the cannon regained with the excep- 
tion of one 6-pounder, which the Americans had put by 
mistake on one of their own limbers, leaving their gun, 
which they had thus exchanged for it, on a British limber. 



284 THE WAR OF 1812 

The British captured this American 6-pounder, and also a 
5^-inch howitzer, which the American artillerymen had 
brought up, and so gained one gun. 

The battle raged for nearly three hours after the arrival 
of Colonel Scott's reinforcements, and consisted mainly of 
vigorous but unsuccessful efforts on the part of the 
Americans to regain possession of the hill and of the 
British cannon. All these attempts were defeated by the 
determined bravery of the infantry who guarded the 
guns. Finally, about midnight, the Americans gave up the 
contest and retreated with great precipitation to their camp 
at Chippawa, leaving all their dead and badly wounded 
behind, and the victorious British in possession of the hard- 
fought field of Lundy's Lane. 

General Drummond, in his excellent and detailed account 
of the battle, dwells with particular emphasis on the conduct 
of the Canadian militia. He says, "The zeal, loyalty and 
bravery with which the militia of this part of the province 
has come forward to cooperate with His Majesty's troops 
in the expulsion of the enemy and their conspicuous gallantry 
in this, and in the action of the fifth instant, claim my warm- 
est thanks." He refers in another place to ''the very credit- 
able and excellent defence made by the incorporated militia 
battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson," and cer- 
tainly the character of its efforts is well attested to by its 
losses, which amounted to one hundred and forty-two out of 
about three hundred men in the field. The sedentary militia 
suffered less severely, but General Drummond describes how 
they, with the other troops in the centre, "repeatedly, when 
hard pressed, formed round the colours of the 89th Regi- 
ment, and invariably repulsed the desperate efforts made 
against them." 

The British losses in the battle of Lundy's Lane amounted 
to eighty-four killed, five hundred and fifty-nine wounded, 
one hundred and ninety-three missing, and forty-two taken 
prisoners, a total of eight hundred and seventy-eight. Among 
the killed were five officers; and thirtv-nine officers were 



CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 



285 



wounded, including l)oth gonerals. The militia lost heavily 
in officers, sixteen of them being either killed or wounded. 
The losses of the Americans, according to their official returns, 
were one hundred and seventy-one killed, five lumdred and 
seventy-two woundctl. and one huiuhvd and ten missing, 




LOi.oNKi. Titus Gkkk Simons, U.E.L. 

In command of the 2nd York militia at Lundy's Lane, where he was severely 

wounded, three grape shot striking his sword arm. He commanded 

all the militia in attack on Black Rock. 

a total of eight hundred and fifty-four. This return, however, 
is incomplete, for it makes no mention of the losses of the 
17th and 19th Regiments, both of which were in the battle 



286 THE WAR OF 1812 

and closely engaged. If they suffered in the same propor- 
tion as the two other regiments of Ripley's brigade, we would 
have to add one hundred and eighty-three to the total of 
American losses to make it complete, which would bring it 
up to one thousand and forty-seven, and this may be near 
the truth. At all events, two hundred and ten American 
dead, besides a great many wounded, were found on the 
field of battle next morning, and between Lundy's Lane 
and Chippawa.were a number of fresh graves in which the 
bodies had been so slightly covered that the arms and legs 
were in many instances exposed to view. 

The battle of Lundy's Lane has been claimed as an Ameri- 
can victory, and this claim appears to have been founded 
on General Brown's official report. Bonaparte remarked 
of Marmont's account of the battle of Salamanca that it 
contained "more complicated stuffing than a clock." 
Brown's report of the battle of Lundy's Lane belongs to the 
same order of composition in which the narrator by vigorous 
misrepresentation endeavours to make up for his own lack 
of success in the field. 

Brown says: — ''While retiring from the field, I saw and 
felt that the victory was complete on our part, if proper 
measures were promptly adopted to secure it. The exhaus- 
tion of the men was, however, such as made some refresh- 
ment necessary. They particularly required water. I my- 
self was extremely sensible of the want of this necessary 
article. I therefore believed it proper that General Ripley 
and the troops should return to camp, after bringing off 
the dead, the wounded and the artillery; and in this I saw 
no difficulty, as the enemy had entirely ceased to act." 
General Brown, who was wounded, left the field after giving 
these orders to Ripley, and when that general returned to 
camp with his army, Brown says : " I now sent for him, and, 
after giving him my reasons for the course I was about to 
adopt, ordered him to put the troops in the best possible 
condition; to give them the necessary refreshment; to take 
with him the pickets and camp guards, and every other 




The Monument at Lundy's Lane 



288 THE WAR OF 1812 

description of force, to put himself on the field of battle as 
the day dawned, and there to meet and beat the enemy if 
he again appeared. To this order he made no objection, 
and I relied on its execution. It was not executed." 

Unless Brown was in this report deliberately stating what 
he knew to be false, for the purpose of deceiving his own 
countrymen, he did not know anything about the battle 
of Lundy's Lane in which he professed to command. He 
was not aware that the reason the British ceased to act was 
because they had secured their guns and position, and were 
content to hold them until the wearied troops had a little 
rest. The Americans had only marched between two and 
three miles before the battle, but Drummond's men had 
marched fourteen miles, and the reinforcements under Col- 
onel Scott, much farther, having been nine hours on the 
march and eighteen under arms when they arrived on the 
field of battle. Had he inquired more particularly of Rip- 
ley, he would have learned from that officer that, instead 
of obeying the orders that Brown says he gave him, he had 
left all of his dead and most of his wounded on the field, 
and so far from bringing away the British guns he had left 
two of his own in the possession of Drummond's army. 
General Brown in his despatch grows quite pathetic over 
the death of his aide. Captain Spencer. "I shall ever think," 
says he, "of this young man with pride and regret;" yet he 
forgets to inform the secretary of war that this "young 
man" was left wounded on the field of battle to become a 
prisoner of the British; and the fact that Spencer did not 
die until the fifth of August, eleven days after the battle, 
shows that Brown's report was "cooked" up after that date, 
to suit the palates of his countrymen. 

General Ripley, strange to say, was no more obedient to 
Brown's order to return to the field and beat the enemy 
than he had been to that which required him to bring away 
his guns, and the wounded and dead. On the morning after 
the battle, he destroyed the Chippawa bridge and his works 
there, threw a large part of his stores, provisions and camp 



CHIPPAWA AND LUNDY'S LANE 



289 



equipage, with a number of tents, into the Niagara River, 
set fire to Street's Mills and fled with his army to Fort Erie. 
Indeed, so convinced was Ripley of the impossibility of main- 
taining himself in Canada, that he refused to remain even 
in Fort Erie without a specific written order from Brown, 
and the sequel of the campaign shows that Ripley's judg- 
ment was sound. If the Americans had retreated at once 
to their own shore it would have been no more than a manly 
admission of defeat, and the world would have been spared 




Medal Struck in Honour of General Brown 



the pitiful spectacle of a ''victorious" American army 
cooped up for weeks after the battle of Lundy's Lane within 
the walls of a fortress, by a weaker force of British regulars 
which they were wholly unable to meet in the field. 

The Americans, while claiming a victory at Lundy's Lane, 
have endeavoured to lessen the disgrace of their defeat by 
making their own numbers smaller and those of the British 
larger than the real figures. Brown makes no mention 
of the numbers on either side, but Lossing says that the 
British had about four thousand five hundred and the 



290 THE WAR OF 1812 

Americans a little less than two thousand six hundred. The 
detailed statements that have already been given render 
it unnecessary to make any other comment on these figures 
further than that they are absolutely false. The Americans 
brought upwards of four thousand six hundred men into 
the field, while the British force up to nine o'clock did not 
exceed eighteen hundred. The total British force brought 
into the field, first and last, was about three thousand. 
Lundy's Lane was, therefore, not only a British victory, but it 
was a victory won against greatly superior numbers. It was a 
triumph of which every Canadian has reason to feel proud, 
for on that memorable day our forefathers stood side by side 
with the bravest of British veterans, and suffered nothing 
in reputation by the associatoin. The four British regi- 
ments which have "Niagara" inscribed on their flags pos- 
sess no more honourable decoration, although among them 
are the Royal Scots, who have fought on almost every British 
field from Blenheim to the present day. That grand old 
regiment, the first of the British line, fought five hundred 
strong at Chippawa and there lost two hundred and twenty- 
eight men. It stood three hundred and seventy strong at 
Lundy's Lane, and there lost one hundred and seventy- 
three of its number. Such were the British regiments that 
fought at Lundy's Lane, and it is glory enough for the Cana- 
dian militia who fought on that field that they were worthy 
to stand beside them. 



CHAPTER XVII 



THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 



The defeated Aiiiericaii army, after its flight from Lundy's 
Lane, reached Fort Erie on the twenty-seventh of July and 
sought shelter behind its defences. During the interval of 
twenty-four days since its capture by General Brown, the 
place had been greatly strengthened, and w^as now capable of 
sheltering a considerable army. As soon as Ripley got his 
men into camp he set them all to work industriously tligging, 
and by the third of August, when General Drunmiond reach- 
ed Fort Erie, the new defensive works of the place were, for 
the most part, complete. Thus General Brown's army of 
invasion which he had been for months preparing for an at- 
tack on Canada, the same army with which he said in his letter 
to Chauncey he would be able to march in any direction over 
this country, was, after a campaign of four weeks, reduced 
to so miserable a condition that it did not dare to meet the 
British in the field, but was forced to seek shelter behind the 
walls of a fort. 

General Drummond's advance had been delayed by the 
rebuilding of the bridge over the Chippawa for the passage 
of his troops and cannon. He had sent home the whole of his 
sedentary militia whose harvest operations now demanded 
their attention, and had been joined by De Watteville's 
Regiment from Kingston and the 41st Regiment from Fort 
George, which was now garrisoned by all that was left of the 
89th Regiment, except the light company which remained 
with the army. General Drummond's force, at the time of 
his arrival in front of Fort Erie, including the embodied 
militia numbered less than three thousand two hundred 



292 THE WAR OF 1812 

rank and file. The American forces at Fort Erie, if we 
assume their own statement of their losses at Lundy's 
Lane to have been correct, must have numbered almost 
three thousand eight hundred men, but, after making a 
liberal allowance for error in the American official returns 
due to the demoralized state of 'their regiments after the 
battle, it is clear that the American army which General 
Ripley took into the fort could not have been less than three 
thousand five hundred men. These troops were encamped 
on a plateau of about fifteen acres on the shores of the lake, 
which the new defences of Fort Erie enclosed, and besides 
these formidable works they were protected by the three 
armed schooners Porcupine, Somers and Ohio which were 
anchored in front of the fort. 

The American batteries at Black Rock, distant only a mile 
and a half from Fort Erie, were a powerful aid to the defence 
of the fort with their flanking fire. Drummond resolved to 
attempt their capture, and early on the morning of the third 
of August sent Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker with six com- 
panies of the 41st, the light company of the 89th, and the two 
flank companies of the 104th Regiment, the whole force num- 
bering less than five hundred men, to effect that object. 
This detachment was landed about half a mile below Shogeo- 
quady Creek, but unfortunately the Americans had been in- 
formed by deserters of the attempt that was to be made. 
When the British reached the creek, they found the bridge 
over it removed, and Major Morgan with two hundred and 
fifty riffemen and a body of volunteers and militia on the 
opposite bank, covered by a breastwork of logs. The 
British wTre met by a heavy fire, and the attempt had to 
be abandoned after they had suffered a loss of twenty-five 
in killed and wounded. The Americans were so well protected 
that they had only two killed and eight wounded. 

On the fifth Brigadier-General Gaines arrived at Fort 
Erie, and took command of the army there, Ripley again 
resuming command of his brigade. On the following day 
Morgan with his riflemen, who had been brought over to the 



THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 293 

Canadian side of the river, was sent through the woods, be- 
tween the British hnes and the fort, with orders to so man- 
oeuvre as to draw them out of their position to a strong Hne 
of American troops posted on the plain below the fort. This 
little stratagem did not succeed; the British refused to be 
drawn, and Morgan had to retire after losing nine of his men 
in a skirmish with the British light troops. 

As the presence of the three American armed schooners 
which lay on the lake in front of Fort P>ie was a serious im- 
pediment to any attack upon that place. Captain Dobbs of 
the brig Charwell of Sir James Yeo's fleet went up from Fort 
George with a party of seamen and marines for the purpose 
of attempting their capture. The CharweWs seamen carried 
the captain's gig on their shoulders from Queenston to 
Frenchman's Creek, a distance of eighteen miles, but the 
British had not even a boat on Lake Erie, and it was necessary 
to carry the gig and five bateaux from Frenchman's Creek 
to a point on the lake several miles to the westward of the 
fort, a distance of eight miles through the woods. This 
arduous task was accomplished by the militia under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Nichol, quartermaster-general of that force, 
and on the evening of the eleventh of August the boats were 
launched upon the lake. Captain Dobbs and Lieutenant 
Radcliffe of the Netley, with seventy-five seamen and marines, 
at once embarked in them. Captain Dobbs leading one division 
consisting of his gig and two of the bateaux, and Lieutenant 
Radcli-ffe the (ithci- comprising the other three bateaux. 
Between eleven and twelve o'clock at night the boats were 
discovered a short distance ahead of the Somers and hailed. 
They answered ''provision boats," which deceived the officer 
on deck, as boats with supplies had been in the habit of pas- 
sing. Before he discovered his mistake the boats drifted 
across his hawse, cut his cables and ran him aboard with a 
volley of musketry which wounded two of his men, and 
before the others could get on deck the schooner was captured. 
In another moment the boats were alongside of the Ohio, 
which was also taken after a more severe struggle in which 



294 THE WAR OF 1812 

Lieutenant Radcliffe and one seaman were killed and six 
seamen and marines wounded. The Ohio lost one seaman 
killed and six of her crew were wounded, including her com- 
mander, Lieutenant Conkling and Sailing-Master McCally. 
The British boats had drifted past the third schooner, the 
Porcupine, before the Somers and Ohio were secured, and she 
was not attacked, but neither she nor the shore batteries 
made any attempt to molest the British as they passed. The 
two captured schooners were carried into Frenchman's Creek. 
This affair was one of the boldest enterprises of the war The 
Somers had a crew of thirty men and carried a long 24- 
pounder and a short 32-pounder; the complement and ar- 
mament of the Ohio were similar. 

On the day after this gallant capture General Drummond 
opened his batteries against Fort Erie. They consisted of 
one long iron and two short brass 24-pounders, a long 18- 
pounder, a 24-pounder carronade and a 10-inch mortar. 
These batteries were stationed about six hundred yards from 
the enemy's nearest works, but, after a cannonade which 
lasted two days, very little impression seems to have been 
made on the American defences, and their losses did not 
exceed fifty killed and wounded. As the fort was in no sense 
invested and could not be so long as the Americans held 
command of the lake. General Drummond determined to 
attempt its capture by direct assault. 

Fort Erie, when it was taken from the British, was a small 
work standing about one hundred yards from the lake, with 
two demi-bastions, a ravelin and two blockhouses. The 
Americans erected a strong redoubt between the demi- 
bastions, and outside of them two large bastions. On the ex- 
treme right of their encampment, and close to the lakeshore, 
they built a strong stonework and connected it with the old 
fort by continuous earthworks seven feet in height, with a 
ditch and abattis in front. This stonework, which was named 
the Douglas battery, mounted an 18 and a 6-pounder, en 
barbette. On the old fort itself, a 24, an 18 and a 12-pounder 
were mounted. From the left or south side of the old fort. 



THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 295 

and in a line nearly parallel to the lake shore, strong parapet 
breastworks were built for a distance of nine hundred yards 
with two ditches and an abattis in front. At the south- 
western extremity of this line of works, on a natural mound 
of sand called Snake Hill, a battery twenty-five feet high was 
erected and five guns mounted upon it. This was called 
Towson's redoubt. Between it and the old fort were two 
other batteries each mounting two guns. From Towson's re- 
doubt to the lakeshore was a line of abattis, thus completing 
the enclosure, whicli was about fifteen acres in extent. As 
the garrison of Fort Erie had been reinforced by Morgan's 
riflemen, as well as by a considerable force from Lake Ontario, 
it must have numbered at least four thousand men at this 
time. It certainly showed no small amount of daring to 
assault a fort with such excellent defences and so strong a 
garrison as Fort Erie then possessed. Whether such a 
measure was altogether prudent, in view of the result, may 
perhaps be doubted. 

General Drummond arranged liis assaulting force into 
three columns; the largest under Colonel Fischer consisted 
of the 8th and De Watteville's Regiments with the light com- 
panies of the 89th and 100th Regiments and a detachment 
of artillery, the whole numbering about one thousand three 
hundred rank and file. The duty of this right column was 
to attack the enemy's redoubt at Snake Hill and carry the 
works in its vicinity. The centre column under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Drummond of the 104th, consisted of the flank com- 
panies of that regiment and of the 41st, with a party of sea- 
men and marines, the whole numbering about two hundred 
rank and file. This column was to attack the old fort di- 
rectly. The left column under Lieutenant-Colonel Scott of 
the 103rd Regiment, was composed of that regiment, five 
hundred strong, and the flank companies of the Royal Scots, 
making altogether six hundred and fifty rank and file. Its 
duty was to attack the enemy's right at the Douglas battery. 

At two o'clock on the morning of the fifteenth of August, 
the British right colunm advanced to attack Towson's bat- 



296 THE WAR OF 1812 

tery on Snake Hill. The troops moved in two columns, the 
advance consisting of the flank companies of De Watteville's 
and the 8th Regiments, and the light companies of the 89th 
and 100th led by Major Evans of the 8th, and the main body 
composed of the remainder of De Watteville's and the 8th 
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Fischer in person. 
Captain Powell of the Glengarry Regiment conducted the 
column, Sergeant Powell of the 19th Dragoons, who was 
familiar with the ground, acting as guide. To prevent any 
musket from giving the alarm to the enemy, the men had 
been deprived of their flints, a very unwise arrangement as it 
turned out, for the garrison was on the alert, and the men 
were thus in a manner disarmed while exposed to a deadly 
fire. As they advanced impetuously to the attack they 
were received with deadly discharges of grape from the guns 
of Towson's battery, and from the musketry of the enemy's 
infantry. Yet so sudden and daring was their onset that 
they almost surrounded the enemy's picket outside the fort, 
and pursued them so closely that Major Villatte of De Watte- 
ville's Regiment, Captain Powell and Lieutenant Young of the 
8th, with about fifty men of the light companies of these two 
regiments, entered the abattis with the flying enemy and got 
to the rear of Towson's redoubt. Here an entirely unex- 
pected obstacle presented itself, which precluded any hope 
of success; the scaling-ladders were too short to ascend the 
redoubt, being but sixteen feet in length, while the fortress 
to be scaled was twenty-five feet high. This checked any 
further attempt in that quarter, but on the right, in the face 
of a deadly fire to which the soldiers could not reply, the 
remainder of the attacking column attempted to scale the 
abattis between the redoubt and the water. After five 
charges, which were most gallantly persevered in, they were 
forced to retire, the abattis being found to be impenetrable. 
At the same time a part of De Watteville's and the 8th Regi- 
ment, marching too near the lake in the darkness, became 
entangled between the rocks and the water, and being exposed 
to a very heavy fire, many lives were lost. The right attack 



THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 297 

had finally to be abandoned, after the column had suffered 
a loss of two hundred and thirteen in killed, wounded and 
missing, of which two-thirds were of De Watteville's Regi- 
ment. 

The attack of the left and centre columns did not take place 
until the contest with the right column had conmienccd. 
Both columns advanced at the same moment, the left column 
moving along the margin of the water while the centre column 
proceeded directly against the old fort, the fire of which was 
immediately directed against it from its salient bastion. At 
the same time the guns on the Douglas battery opened on 
the left column with great vigour, assisted l)y the musketry 
of the New York and Pennsylvania volunteers. The left 
column was checked by this destructive fusilade at a dis- 
tance of a]:)out fifty yards from the abattis, but again ad- 
vanced with redoubled fury. Before they could plant their 
scaling-ladders, however, a discharge of grape from the 
Douglas battery swept away almost one-third of the column, 
killing among others its gallant leader, Colonel Scott. The 
attempt on the left was then abandoned. 

In the meantime Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond of the 
104th, despite the tremendous fire with which he was assailed, 
had persevered in his attack on the fort. Three times his 
detachment was driven back from the parapets in which they 
had effected a partial lodgment, l)ut his men were not dis- 
couraged. A fourth attempt was made, the parapet was 
won and the enemy driven out of the salient bastion. In 
the desperate struggle for its possession which followed, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond was killed, and many other 
officers wounded, but this did not check the British advance 
in the slightest degree. To quote the words of an American 
historian of the war: "The most obstinate previous parts 
of the engagement formed no kind of ])arallel to the violence 
and desperation of the present conflict. Not all the efforts 
of Major blindman and his command, nor Major Trimble's 
infantry, nor a detachment of riflemen under Ca]itain Birdsall, 
who had posted himself in the ravelin opposite the gateway 



298 THE WAR OF 1812 

of the fort, could dislodge the determined and intrepid enemy 
from the bastion, though the deadly effects of our fire pre- 
vented their approach beyond it. It was now in his entire 
po session." Effort after effort was made to dislodge the 
British from the bastion, but they all failed. Captain 
Birdsall with his rifle regiment and some infantry, charged 
them, but he was wounded and his men driven back. De- 
tachments of the 11th, 19th and 22nd United States infantry 
were introduced into the interior of the bastion for the pur- 
pose of driving back the undaunted British, but this attempt 
failed like those that had preceded it. The American ar- 
tillery, from a demi-bastion of the fort, and the small-arms 
men kept up an incessant and destructive fire upon the 
attacking party, and, as it was now daylight, they suffered 
heavy losses, yet they still held their ground. At this mo- 
ment the 103rd Regiment, which had been turned from the 
left attack, advanced to the bastion in spite of the en- 
filading fire of the Douglas battery and was about to rush 
it to reinforce the heroic soldiers of the centre column, when 
a sudden tremour was felt like the first shock of an earth- 
quake. In an instant the bastion was blown up with a ter- 
rible explosion, and all that were upon it or near it were killed 
or wounded. An eye-witness says that as the bastion blew 
up, ''a jet of flame, mingled with fragments of timber, earth, 
stone and bodies of men, rose to a height of one hundred or 
two hundred feet in the air, and fell in a shower of ruins to a 
great distance all around." So destructive were the effects 
of this dreadful explosion that there was no longer any co- 
herent body of troops left in front of the fort to continue the 
attack, and the wasted remains of the centre and left columns 
withdrew from the field. 

The British official returns of the loss in this desperate 
affair put the number of killed at fifty-seven, the wounded 
at three hundred and nine, and the missing at five hundred 
and thirty-nine, a total of nine hundred and five. It was 
stated, however, by General Drummond in his despatch that 
almost all of those returned as missing might be considered 



THE SIEGE OF l-OKT ERIE 299 

as wounded or killed by the explosion, and left in the hands 
of the enemy. This was, unfortunately, only too correct a 
statement of the case. The number of British dead left on 
the field was two hundred and twenty-two, while one hun- 
dred and seventy-four wounded and one hundred and eighty- 
six unwouTidcd ))risoners remained in the hands of the 
enemy. The American loss numbered seventeen killed, 
fifty-six wounded, and eleven taken prisoners, a total of 
eighty-four nu^n. 

The unfortunate error which sent the right column to at- 
tack Towson's redoubt with scaling-ladders that were too 
short, and without flints for their muskets, made any success 
in that quarter practically impossible. Yet there is ample 
consolation to the Canadian reader for the failure of the at- 
tack on Fort Erie in the contem])lation of the heroism of the 
centre column which has never been surpassed since arms 
were borne by man, and in the thought that the leader of 
that column, who tlied at the head of his men, and a large 
part of the troops that composed it, were Canadians. Yet 
as we consider this glorious example of human daring, so 
honourable to the virtues of man, what are we to think of 
the American general, Edmund P. Gaines, who in a despatch 
written on the day of the assault on Fort Erie, wrote as fol- 
lows: "They attacked us on each flank, got possession of 
the salient bastion of old Fort Erie, which was regained at 
the point of the bayonet with a dreadful slaughter." This 
man, wlio j)refaces his falsehood with the remark, "my heart 
is gladdened with gratitude to heaven," knew right well that 
the bastion was not "regained at the point of the bayonet," 
but that the gallant men who had won it at the point of the 
bayonet, were destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder, 
which if not fired by the hand of Gaines himself, was the 
result of his immediate orders. On this point there can be 
no doubt. Jabez Fisk, a soldier in the American army, who 
was in Fort Erie at the time made the following statement 
in writing, of what occurred. "Three or four hundred of 
the enemy had got into the bastion. At this time an Ameri- 



300 THE WAR OF 1812 

can officer came running up, and said, 'General Gaines, the 
bastion is full. I can blow them all to hell in a minute!' 
They both passed back through a stone building, and in a 
short time the bastion and the British were high in the air. 
General Gaines soon returned, swinging his hat, and shouting : 
'Hurrah for Little York!'" It would be a waste of words 
after this to make further comments on any statement made 
by Gaines. Fort Erie was, a few days later, relieved of his 
presence in a manner that a believer in the Mikado's theory 
of making the punishment fit the crime, would have thought 
very apposite. As he was sitting at his desk a British 
shell fell through the roof of his quarters, passed through 
his writing desk and exploded at his feet, almost killing 
the ''gladdened Gaines," and compelling him to relinquish 
the command. 

Leaving the siege of Fort Erie for the present, it is now 
necessary to deal with a number of important occurrences 
in other parts of Canada. After the Americans obtained 
control of Lake Erie, they resolved to recover the fort at 
Mackinac which had been taken from them at the very 
beginning of the war. To effect this, an expedition was or- 
ganized under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Croghan, 
who had acquired some celebrity by his defence of Fort 
Stephenson. This expedition was to have started from 
Detroit early in April, but it did not get away until the be- 
ginning of July. In the meantime Mackinac had been 
reinforced by ninety men under Lieutenant-Colonel McDouall, 
consisting of a company of the Newfoundland Regiment, 
twenty-three seamen of the Lake Ontario fleet, and a few 
Canadian volunteers. This detachment, with the fieldguns 
and a supply of provisions and military stores, reached its 
destination in bateaux from a port on Lake Huron, on the 
eighteenth of May. Early in June an American force took 
possession of the Indian post at Prairie du Chien on the 
Mississippi, almost five hundred miles from Mackinac, and 
Colonel McDouall, who was now in command at the latter 
place, resolved to dislodge them. Accordingly, Colonel 



THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 301 

McKay of the Michigan Fencibles was sent to Prairie du 
Chien with a detachment consisting of his own corps and 
a company of Cana(Han volunteers, one hundred and fifty 
men in all, with a 3-pounder. He also was accompanied 
by about five hundred Indians. The detachment reached 
its destination on the seventeenth of July, and found that 
the Americans had erected a small fort on a height behind 
the village, with two blockhouses mounting six pieces of can- 
non. The fort was manned by about seventy effective men. 
Lying at anchor in the river opposite the fort was a large gun- 
boat, mounting fourteen pieces of cannon and manned by 
about eighty men with muskets. She was so constructed 
that she could be rowed in any direction without the men 
being exposed to the fire of musketry. 

Colonel McKay demanded the immediate surrender of 
this formidable floating battery, which was refused, upon 
which he brought up his one gun and commenced a vigorous 
fire on the gunboat which lasted about three hours, while 
both gunboat and fort replied. The men in the gunboat 
finally, finding the place too hot for her, cut her cable and 
she was carried down the current to a place of shelter under 
an island. On the following day McKay advanced his men 
against the fort, upon which a white flag was immediately 
displayed, and the place surrendered with its garrison of 
sixty-five men and its cannon and stores. Not one man of 
McKay's white troops was even wounded in this brilliant 
affair, which reflected the greatest credit on every person 
concerned in the expedition. 

The American force for the reduction of Mackinac arrived 
at St. Joseph on the twentieth of July. It consisted origin- 
ally of five hundred regulars and two hundred and fifty militia 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Croghan, to which was added at 
Fort Gratiot, where the expedition halted, a regiment of 
Ohio volunteers under Colonel Cotgreave, so that the land 
force must have numbered more than one thousand men. 
They were embarked in the Niagara, Caledonia, Laurence, 
Scorpion and Tigress, all of Perry's fleet. These vessels, 



302 THE WAR OF 1812 

which were in charge of Commander St. Clair, carried forty- 
six guns throwing a broadside weighing seven hundred and 
seventy-six pounds, and were manned by upwards of four 
hundred men, so that the expedition was a formidable one 
in point of numbers and armament. The British post at St. 
Joseph had been abandoned and the Americans met with 
no opposition in burning the few houses there. From 
this place Major Holmes of the 32nd U. S. Regiment of 
infantry and Lieutenant Turner of the navy, with about 
three hundred infantry and artillery, were detached to de- 
stroy the establishment of the British North-West Company 
at Sault Ste. Marie. The fact that the property to be 
destroyed was private property, did not deter the Americans 
from this act of vandalism which was quite characteristic 
of their conduct in Canada during the war. Holmes reached 
Sault Ste. Marie on the twenty-first and then commenced 
a scene of rapine such as, fortunately for the credit of human 
nature, has seldom to be recorded. Mr. Johnson, the com- 
pany's agent, had succeeded in carrying off a considerable 
amount of the company's property to a place of safety, on the 
approach of the enemy. The brutal rage of Holmes and his 
men at being thus balked of their expected prey knew no 
bounds. Everything they found on shore that could not 
be carried away was destroyed. Not only were the houses, 
stores and vessels burnt, but the cattle were killed, the gar- 
dens laid waste, the furniture stolen, and in some instances 
the clothes pilfered from the children's backs. Several of 
the employees of the company were carried off as prisoners. 
Among the acts of cruelty perpetrated by these brigands, 
some of which will not bear repetition, one, of which an 
unfortunate horse was the victim, was of peculiar atrocity. 
Having made use of this animal all day in carrying the plun- 
der of the settlement, they tied him, while harnessed in the 
cart, to a dwelling-house which they set on fire, and amused 
themselves with the pitiable spectacle of the unavailing ef- 
forts of the poor beast to extricate itself from the flames. 
Holmes then returned to St. Joseph, and the whole expedi- 



THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 303 

tion set out for Mackinac wliciu others besides unarmed men 
and helpless women and children were to be encountered. 

The American forces under St. Clair and Croghan reached 
Mackinac on the twenty-sixth of July, but no attempt was 
made to attack the place until the fourth of August. The 
interval seems to have been spent in reconnoitring, and in 
reconciling differences between St. Clair and Croghan as to 
the proper method of conducting the assault. It was finally 
decided that Croghan should land with his troops on the back 
or western part of the island under cover of the guns of the 
ships, and attempt to attack the works in the rear. Croghan 
and his more than one thousand men got ashore at Dowsman's 
farm, where there was an extensive clearing, without Colonel 
McDouall being able to offer any effectual opposition. This 
able officer was in an embarrassing position, for owing to the 
absence of the detachment under McKay and of Lieutenant 
Worsley and his seamen, after manning the guns at the forts 
he had only a disposable force of one hundred and forty men, 
of which fifty were Indians, to meet the enemy on the field. 
The position he took up was an excellent one behind a natural 
breastwork, with the ground clear in front, but it was un- 
avoidably at too great a distance from the forts, in each of 
which he had been able to leave only twenty-five militia. 

The enemy, guided by some former residents of the island, 
advanced slowly and cautiously, and McDouall's two guns 
a 3, and a 6-pounder opened upon them, but not with the 
effect they should have had, on account of the want of 
experienced gunners and an artillery officer to direct them. 
Their advance in front was checked, but they were gaining 
on the British left flank, the Indians who were stationed in 
the woods permitting them to do this without firing a shot. 
At the same time McDouall was obHged to weaken his small 
force by detaching his Michigan Fencibles to oppose a party 
of the enemy wiio wTre advancing to the woods on his rigt. 

Major Crawford of the miUtia now sent word to Colonel 
McDouall that the enemy's two largest ships had anchored 
to the rear of his left, and that troops were moving by a road 



304 THE WAR OF 1812 

in that direction towards the forts. He, therefore, immediate- 
ly moved to place himself between the forts and the enemy, 
and took up a position effectually covering them. Then, 
collecting the greater part of the Indians who had retired, 
and taking with him Major Crawford and about fifty militia, 
he again advanced to support a party of the Indians who, 
with their gallant chief Thomas, had commenced a spirited 
attack on the enemy. These judicious arrangements effect- 
ually checked the Americans at every point, and compelled 
them finally to fall back in disorder to their shipping, leaving 
all their dead and a considerable number of their wounded 
on the field. The Americans admitted a loss of twelve killed, 
fifty-two wounded and two missing, but the return was evi- 
dently incomplete for the British found seventeen Ameri- 
cans dead on the island. Among them was Major Holmes, 
the horse-torturing hero of Sault Ste. Marie. This splen- 
did victory, which compelled the Americans to abandon 
their attempt on Mackinac, was achieved with no greater 
loss on the part of the British than one Indian killed. The 
demorahzed condition of the American army may be judged 
from the language used by Commander St. Clair in his official 
report to his own government, in which he says: "The men 
were getting lost, and falling into confusion, natural under 
such circumstances, which demanded an immediate retreat, 
or a total defeat and general massacre must have ensued." 

Croghan and St. Clair now resolved to attempt an easier 
enterprise than the capture of Mackinac. They proceeded 
to the mouth of the Nautawassaga River in which the North- 
West Company's schooner, Nancy, was lying laden with furs 
in charge of Lieutenant Worsley with- twenty-three seamen, 
under the protection of a blockhouse. Worsley sent away 
the furs in canoes which escaped the enemy and got safely 
into French River, and held the blockhouse, which mounted 
only one gun, against the twenty fold superior force of the 
enemy until further resistance became vain, upon which he 
blew up both blockhouse and vessel, and with his men escaped 
up the river in a boat. The expedition the sole object of 



THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 305 

which was i)hm(l('r, was, thanks to Lieutenant Worsley's 
energy and courage, a total failure. 

St. Clair's scjuadron now sailed for Detroit with the excep- 
tion of the schooners Tigress and Scorpion which were left 
to blockade the Nautawassaga, it being the only route by 
which provisions and other supplies could be sent to Mack- 
inac. The Americans thus hoped to starve out the place 
which they could not take by assault, but this promising 
scheme also failed. After remaining on their station for 
some time, the two schooners took a cruise towards St. Joseph. 
On the thirty-first of August, Lieutenant Worsley arrived 
at Mackinac with the intelligence that the schooners were 
in the vicinity of St. Joseph, and five leagues apart. It was 
immediately resolved to attempt their capture. According- 
ly on the evening of the first of September, four boats set 
out, one mannetl by nineteen seamen under Lieutenant 
Worsley, and the three others by sixty officers and men of 
the Newfoundland Regiment under Lieutenant Bulger with 
whom were two artillerymen with a 3 and a 6-pounder, five 
•civilians of the Indian department and three Indian chiefs, 
in all ninety-two persons. A number of Indians in their 
canoes accompanied the expedition, but remained three miles 
in the rear and took no part in the fighting. At sunset on 
the second the boats arrived at St. Mary's Strait, and spent 
twenty-four hours in finding out where the American schoon- 
ers were. On th(> third the troops remained concealed 
amongst the rocks all day, but at six o'clock the nearest 
vessel, the Tigress, was distinguished six miles off, and they 
pulled for her. At nine o'clock they were approaching her, 
and were within one hundred yards of the enemy when they 
were hailed. On receiving no answer, the Americans on the 
Tigress opened fire upon the boats, both with musketry 
and with the 24-pounder. The boats instantly dashed in, 
and in the course of five minutes the schooner was boarded 
and carried by the boats of Lieutenant Worsley and Lieu- 
tenant Armstrong on the starboard side, and of Lieutenant 
Bulger and Lieutenant Radenhurst on the port side. Of 



306 THE WAR OF 1812 

her crew of twenty-eight men, three were killed, and five, 
including Mr. Champlin, her commander, dangerously wound- 
ed. The British had three seamen killed, and Lieutenant 
Bulger and seven soldiers slightly wounded. On the follow- 
ing day the prisoners were sent ashore, and the British 
prepared to attack the other schooner which they learned 
was anchored fifteen miles farther down. The position of 
the Tigress was not altered, and, the better to carry out the 
deception, the American flag was kept flying. On the even- 
ing of the fifth, the Scorpion was discovered working up to 
join her consort, and she came to anchor about two miles 
from her. At six o'clock next morning the Tigress slipped 
her cable and ran down under her jib and foresail. Every- 
thing was so well managed by Lieutenant Worsley that the 
Tigress was within ten yards of the Scorpion before those 
on board the latter discovered that anything was wrong. It 
was then too late. The concealed British soldiers jumped 
up, poured a volley into her which killed two and wounded 
two others, and the next moment boarded and carried the 
vessel, her surprised crew making no resistance. The Scor- 
pion carried one long 24-pounder, besides a long 12-pounder 
which was in her hold, and had a complement of thirty- 
two men. The capture of these two schooners was a 
brilliant affair, and relieved the garrison of Mackinac from 
any further annoyance. The place remained in the hands 
of the British until restored to the Americans by the treaty 
of peace. 

An account of two or three acts of American vandalism 
will now suffice to complete the record of their operations 
west of the Niagara frontier in 1814. In May, Colonel 
Campbell of the 19th United States infantry with five hun- 
dred troops landed at Long Point from Erie, and marched 
to Dover from which the few dragoons stationed there had 
retired. They set fire to and burnt the whole of the little 
village of Dover, which comprised a sawmill, a tannery, three 
distilleries, six stores and nineteen private houses, thus 
utterly ruining about twenty-five peaceable families. Per- 



THE SlEdE OF FORT ERIE 3(17 

haps it will bring the inodcrn CMiuulian reader to a clearer 
realization of the proceedings of these raiders to read the 
account of what occurred at Ryersc which was written by 
the venerable Mrs. Amelia Harris, cousin of the late Rev. 
Egerton Ryerson in whose work on the Loyalists it appears. 
This lady writes: — "On the fourteenth, the Americans burnt 
the village and mills of Dover; on the fifteenth, as my mother 
and myself were sitting at breakfast, the dogs kept up a very 
unusual barking. I went to the door to discover the cause; 
when I looked up I saw the hillside and fields, as far as the 
eyes could reach, covered with American soldiers. They 
had marched from Port Dover to Ryerse. Tw^o men stepped 
from the ranks, selected some large chips, and came into 
the room where we were standing, and took coals from the 
hearth without speaking a word. My mother knew in- 
stinctively what they were going to do. She went out and 
asked to see the commanding officer. A gentleman rode 
up to her and said he was the person she asked for. She 
entreated him to spare her property and said she was a widow 
with a young family. He answered her civilly and respect- 
fully, and expressed his regret that his orders were to burn, 
but that he would spare the house, which he did; and 
he said, as a sort of justification of his burning, that the 
huiklings were used as a barrack, and the mill furnished 
flour for the British troops. Very soon we saw columns of 
dark smoke arise from every building, and of what at early 
morn had been a prosperous homestead, at noon there re- 
mained only smouldering ruins. My father had been dead 
less than two years. Little remained of all his labours ex- 
cepting the orchard and the cultivated fields. It would not 
be easy to describe my mother's feelings as she looked upon 
the desolation around her, and thought upon the past and 
the present." 

Samuel Ryerse, the husbantl of the lady who was thus 
ruined by Campbell and his band of incendiaries, was a 
Loyalist who was exiled for fighting on the British sitlc during 
the War of the Revolution. It was not enough for his per- 



308 THE WAR OF 1812 

secutors that he should be compelled to abandon his pro- 
perty and begin the world anew in a strange land, he must 
be pursued and his widow and little family deprived of their 
means of living by vandals like Campbell. This outrage 
provoked so much comment that the American government 
had to bring Colonel Campbell to trial before a court-martial 
which was presided over by Colonel Scott. The court de- 
clared in its finding that the destruction of the mills and dis- 
tilleries was according to the usages of war, but that in burn- 
ing the houses of the inhabitants. Colonel Campbell had 
greatly erred. This mild reprimand was all the punishment 
that Campbell received. Mr. James Monroe, the American 
secretary of state, in a letter to Sir Alexander Cochrane 
written in September, 1814, stated that the burning of Long 
Point was "unauthorized by the government." In the same 
letter he stated that the burning of Newark was "dis- 
avowed by the government." To "disavow" an act is to 
deny knowledge of it, yet General McClure was able to pro- 
duce an order from War Secretary Armstrong, the proper 
mouthpiece of the government as regarded military matters, 
authorizing him to burn Newark. Mr. Monroe in making 
this statement to Sir Alexander Cochrane was, therefore, not 
telling the truth. In view of the fact that Colonel Campbell 
told Mrs. Ryerse that his orders were to burn, and consider- 
ing the falsity of Monroe's statement about Newark, may 
it not be safely assumed that the burning of the private 
houses at Long Point was also authorized by the American 
government? 

On the sixteenth of August, a party of about one hundred 
Americans and Indians landed at Port Talbot on Lake Erie, 
and robbed fifty families of all their horses and of every 
article of household furniture and wearing apparel which 
they possessed. The number of persons who were thus 
thrown destitute upon the world was two hundred and thirty- 
six, of whom one hundred and eighty-five were women and 
children. Several of the more prominent inhabitants were 
not only robbed but carried off as prisoners, among them 



THE SIEGE OF EORT ERIE 309 

being Mr. Burwell, a member of the legislature of Upper 
Canada, who was at the time in a very weak state of health. 

The last effort of American ruffianism in the peninsula 
of western Canada, was General McArthur's raid in October 
and November, 1814. McArthur seems to have l^een stinm- 
lated to this effort by the successful foray of a band of ruffians 
who issued from the garrison of Detroit on the twentieth 
of September, and spread fire and devastation through an 
entire Canadian settlement, bringing to utter ruin and misery 
twenty-seven families. McArthur's raid was on a larger 
and more ambitious scale. With seven hundred and fifty 
mounted men from Ohio and Kentucky, he left Detroit on 
the twenty-second of October and proceeded up the western 
side of Lake St. Clair, and on the twenty-sixth crossed the 
St. Clair River and entered Canada. The absurd Lossing 
by way of excuse for McArthur's conduct says the move- 
ment was made in consequence of " the critical situation 
of the American army under General Brown at Fort Erie," 
and that its object was "to make a diversion in favour of 
that general." As the siege of Fort Erie had been abandon- 
ed by the British a month before McArthur started, and as 
General Brown was not there at all but at Sacketts Harbour, 
his connnand at Fort Erie having been transferred to General 
Izard who had about eight thousand men with him, it will 
be seen that the alleged reasons for McArthur's raid did not 
exist. It was undertaken simply for the sake of the plunder 
and the cheap glory it might yield. 

McArthur passed up the northern side of the Thames to 
Moravian Town and thence to Oxford. The country through 
which ho advanced was given up to indiscriminate plunder, 
the houses of the settlers were reduced to ashes, and the 
miserable inhabitants were left to perish with cold and 
hunger. His design was to advance as far as Burlington 
Heights, but at the Grand River he learned that a detach- 
ment of the 103rd Regiment was after him. This news set 
the cowardly raider scampering back much faster than he 
had come, and so precipitate was his flight that the British 



310 THE WAR OF 1812 

regulars did not get within eight miles of him. He got back 
to Detroit on the seventeenth of November, after three weeks 
of marauding in which he inflicted great loss and misery on 
private individuals, but did nothing for his country except 
to make its name detested and despised in western Canada. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



PLATTSBURG 



It has been already seen that the American commodore, 
Chauncey, did not venture to leave Sacketts Harbour with 
his fleet until the first of August, when the completion of 
two large ships, the Superior and Mohawk, gave him an 
overwhelming preponderance of force. Thus it happened 
that Sir James Yeo had control of Lake Ontario for the first 
three months of the season of open navigation, and in that 
time was able to give valuable assistance to the army in the 
defence of Canada. The operations on the lake during the 
time Chauncey held possession of it were not of great im- 
portance. His fleet was greatly superior, and Sir James 
Yeo prudently retired with his larger vessels to Kingston, 
where he was blockaded by Chauncey for about six weeks. 
The American commodore professed a great desire for an 
encounter, and complained very bitterly that Sir James 
would not gratify him by meeting his four larger vessels 
with the four largest British ships. In a letter written to 
the secretary of the navy on the tenth of August he says: 
"To deprive the enemy of an apology for not meeting me 
I have sent ashore four guns from the Superior to reduce 
her armament in number to an equality with the Prince 
Regent's, yielding the advantage of their 68-pounders. The 
Mohawk mounts two guns less than the Princess Charlotte, 
and the Montreal and Niagara are equal to the Pike and 
Madison." 

It is remarkable that this American commodore was 
unable to tell the truth even in a despatch to his own gov- 
ernment in regard to a matter of which he must have been 



312 



THE WAR OF 1812 



fully informed. His largest vessel, the Su'perior, was heavier 
in armament than an ordinary 74 line of battleship, and 
far more powerful than the Prince Regent with which Chaun- 
cey compares her. The following statement of the four 
largest British and four largest American vessels on Lake 
Ontario is taken from an American author, Roosevelt, and 
is therefore not likely to err in favour of the British: 

American Vessels 

Name. Tonnage. Crew. Metal Armament. 

( 30 long 32's. 

Superior 1,580 500 1,050 lbs.- 2 long 24's. 

\ 26 short 42's. 

{ 26 long 24's. 

Mohawk 1,350 350 554 " \ 2 long 18's. 

y 14 short 32's. 

Pike 875 300 360 " 28 long 24's. 

Madison -593 200 364 " | 22lhOTt3?s 

4,398 1,350 2,328 lbs. 



British Vessels 

Name. Tonnage. Crew. 

Prince Regent 1,450 485 

Princess Charlotte. ... 1,215 315 

Montreal 637 220 

Niagara 510 200 



Broadside 
Metal. 

872 lbs. 



604 

258 
332 



3,812 



1,220 



Armament. 

32 long 24's. 

4 short 68's. 
22 short 32's. 
26 long 24's. 

2 short 68's. 
14 short 32's. 

f 7 long 24's. 

t 18 long 18's. 

f 2 long 12's. 

I 20 short 32's. 



1,966 lbs. 



From the foregoing statement it will be seen that the 
Americans were greatly superior, both in the size of their 
ships and their armaments. Sir James was, therefore, wise 
not to risk an action, the loss of which might have wrought 
incalculable injury. 



PLATTSBURG 313 

On Lake Charaplain the Americans had been active in 
constructing vessels during the winter, and in Ai)ril, Com- 
modore Macdonough, who was in command there, succeeded 
in hiunching his new ships which had Ijeen buiU at \'ergennes, 
Vermont. On the fourteenth of May, Captain Pring, R.N., 
with the British flotilhi a))peared off the mouth of Otter 
Creek, in which Macdonougii's vessels were lying, and com- 
menced a cannonade upon the seven-gun battery by which 
its entrance was defended. The Americans, however, were 
prepared for this attack; they had been strongly reinforced, 
and, as Captain Pring had n(^ laud force with him, he was 
unable to accomplish anything, and so returned to Isle Aux 
Noix. It was a serious error for which Sir George Prevost 
must be held responsible, that he did not send a sufficient 
land force to Vergennes at the opening of lake navigation 
to destroy Macdonough's ships there, and make it impossible 
for him to appear on Lake Champlain. 

About the middle of June, General Izard, who com- 
manded the land forces at Plattsburg, made a movement 
towards the Canadian frontier, his advance being encamped 
at Champlain within five miles of the international bound- 
ary. This movement led to no other result than a few un- 
important skirmishes between parties of Americans and the 
British outposts. In one of these, Lieutenant-Colonel For- 
syth, some of whose exploits as a marauder have already 
been related, was killed by an Indian. Lossing says of 
Forsyth's followers: — "Hotly incensed because of the em- 
ployment of the savages by the liritish, they resolved to 
avenge the death of their own leader by taking the life of 
the leader of the Indians. A few days afterwards some of 
them crossed the line and shot Mahew. that leader." The 
leader who was shot was Captain Mailloux, a remarkably 
brave and vigilant Canadian officer. It is singular Lossing 
does not perceive that in tiiis narrative he is showing that 
Forsyth's men had ceased to be soldiers and had become 
mere assassins, lying in aml)ush to take the life of a single 
man. Their indignation at the employment of Indians by 



314 THE WAR OF 1812 

the British might have been somewhat lessened had they 
known that about the time they were lying concealed to 
accomplish the murder of the unfortunate Mailloux, General 
Brown was crossing the Niagara River to invade Canada 
with six hundred Indian warriors in his army. 

The abdication of Bonaparte in April, 1814, which brought 
the long war with France to an end, enabled a considerable 
proportion of Wellington's victorious army to be sent to 
America. These troops were embarked at Bordeaux and 
reached Quebec, to the number of about sixteen thousand, in 
July and August. The hardy veterans who composed this 
reinforcement were ignorant of defeat. They represented the 
brave army which, to quote the words of Napier, "Fought 
and won nineteen pitched battles and innumerable combats, 
made or sustained ten sieges, took four great fortresses, 
twice expelled the French from Portugal, killed, wounded 
and took two hundred thousand enemies, and the bones of 
forty thousand British soldiers lie scattered on the moun- 
tains and plains of the peninsula." It was with the army 
of which this reinforcement formed a part that their trusted 
leader conducted to its glorious close the campaign of Vit- 
toria of which the same brilliant historian writes: ''In this 
campaign of six weeks Lord Wellington, with one hundred 
thousand men marched six hundred miles, passed six great 
rivers, gained one decisive battle, invested two fortresses, 
and drove one hundred and twenty thousand veteran troops 
from Spain." The result of six campaigns had proved, and 
every military man in Europe knew, that this army was 
the best in the world, its record having been an unbroken 
series of victories, and yet the incompetent or traitorous 
Sir George Prevost was able to do what its enemies could 
not accomplish, and bring this noble body of brave men 
to shame and humiliation. 

The ministry in England had determined on an offensive 
campaign in northern New York with a view, it would appear, 
to conquering part of that state. Their motive seems to 
have been to obtain such a footing in the territory in ques- 



PLATTSBURG 315 

tioii as would lead to u rpctificatioii of the boundary between 
the United States and the l^ritish North American provinces, 
which had been so grossly mismanaged by the British Com- 
missioner, Mr. Oswald, at the close of the Revolutionary 
War. Such an attempt was unwise, as the Duke of Welling- 
ton had pointed out more than a year before in a letter to 
Lord Bathurst, and it was es|)ecially unwise because the 
plan of invasion was arranged l)y a ministry more than 
three thousand miles away, who knew nothing of the local 
circumstances which might make their scheme advisable or 
otherwise. But the attempt having been ordered, it re- 
mained for Sir George Prevost to use the best means at his 
disposal to carry it out. Yet if this man had been in the 
pay of the enemy, he could not have arranged matters 
better to defeat the object of the expedition than he did. 
The cooperation of the fleet to command the lake was con- 
sidered necessary, yet only one vessel was constructed, and 
the work upon her was so much delayed that she was not 
nearly complete when the army was ready to move. When 
the army did start its advance was so tardy that the enemy 
had full warning of the point of attack, and ample time to 
prepare against it. 

The force selected for the invasion of New York num- 
bered eleven thousand men, and was divided into three 
brigades under Generals Robinson, Power and Brisbane, 
the whole forming a division under the command of Major- 
General De Rottenburg. The army was put in motion 
and crossed the international boundary line at Odelltown 
on the first of September. This place is no more than 
twenty-five miles from Plattsburg, which they coukl easil)^ 
have reached in two days, and, no doubt, could have 
inunediately carried, as the American force was very weak, 
having been reduced by the sending of a large detachment 
under General Izard to the Niagara frontier. The moment 
the British ])egan to advance, Major-General Macomb and 
the American troops under his conmiand retired to Platts- 
burg. Sir George occupied his abandoned camj) at Cham- 



316 THE WAR OF 1812 

plain on the third, having been two days advancing some- 
what less than five miles. The same snail-like rate of pro- 
gression characterized the subsequent movements of Sir 
George. The left division, numbering about seven thousand 
men, advanced on the following day to the village of Chazy, 
about five miles from Champlain, without experiencing 
the slightest opposition. On the fifth, the troops halted 
within eight miles of Plattsburg, having advanced about 
seventeen miles within the enemy's territory in the course 
of four days. On the sixth, the army moved upon Platts- 
burg in two columns on parallel roads, the right column led 
by Major-General Power's brigade supported by four com- 
panies of light infantry, and a demi-brigade under Major- 
General Robinson going by the Beckmantown road. The 
left column, which consisted of Major-General Brisbane's 
brigade, advanced by the road which runs close to Lake 
Champlain. General Macomb had stationed a detachment 
of regulars with two fieldpieces near Dead Creek bridge 
to obstruct the left column, while General Mooers with seven 
hundred militia, supported by Major Wool with two hun- 
dred and fifty regulars and some artillery, was sent to check 
the right column on the Beckmantown road. The militia 
promptly ran away the moment the British appeared, or, 
to quote the language of their own general, Macomb, ''Fell 
back most precipitately in. the greatest disorder, notwith- 
standing the British troops did not deign to fire on them 
except by their flankers and advanced patrols." 

As the flight of the panic-stricken militia, who, to quote 
their own general once more, "could not be prevailed upon 
to stand," exposed the force at Dead Creek to capture, it 
had to make an immediate retreat. All the American his- 
tories are filled with accounts of the brave conduct of this 
party of regulars and of Major Wool's men as they retreated, 
and of the great losses they inflicted on the British, and, no 
doubt, the terrified citizen soldiers of New York thought 
this petty skirmish to be a dreadful battle. On this point 
we require no better authority than General Macomb himself, 



PLATTSBURG 317 

who says: " The fieldpieces did considerable execution 
among the enemy's coKuniis. So undaunted however, was 
the enemy, that he never deployed in his whole march, 
always pressing on in column. Finding that every road 
was full of troops crowding us on all sitles, I ordered the 
fieldpieces to retire across the bridge, and form a battery 
for its protection, and to cover the retreat of the infantry, 
which was accordingly done." The Americans retreated to 
the south side of the Saranac after destroying the bridge, 
while the British army encamped a short distance north of 
the river and within a mile of Plattsljurg. 

The position occupied by tlie American army at Platts- 
burg was on an elevated ridge of land crowned with three 
redoubts and two blockhouses. The redoubts were on a 
curved line across the neck of the peninsula between the 
Saranac and Lake Champlain on which the village stood, 
and were named respectively P'orts Brown, Moreau and 
Scott. This neck is about one-third of a mile across. Fort 
Brown was on the bank of the river, half a mile alcove the 
lowTr bridge, and the same distance below the upper bridge. 
Fort Moreau, which was the principal work, was three hun- 
dred yards east of Fort Brown, and half way between the 
river and the lake, and Fort Scott stood near the shores of 
the latter. From the lower bridge to a point some distance 
above Fort Brown the right bank of the Saranac is steep 
and from fifty to sixty feet in height, and about three hun- 
dred yards. above the lower bridge it is cleft by a deej) 
ravine which extends from the river almost to the lake. 
Near this ravine a blockhouse was built, and on a {)oint to 
the eastwartl overlooking Plattsburg Bay was another l)lock- 
house. At the mouth of the river a short distance from 
the lower bridge stood a stone mill which was also used for 
defensive purposes. These works mounted altogether about 
twenty guns, and were defended by one thousand five hun- 
dred American regulars and tliree thousand two hundred 
militia. 

Had Sir. George Prevost made an attack on Plattsburg 



318 THE WAR OF 1812 

the day his army arrived in front of it, the place would 
have been taken in an hour and the entire American force 
there captured. But this system of making war might have 
hurt the feelings of the enemy, whom Sir George was always 
so desirous of conciliating. Instead of making a prompt 
movement he halted his army for five days on the banks of 
the Saranac, and began throwing up batteries, while the 
Americans in full view of him were laboriously strengthen- 
ing themselves in their positions. The sight of this army 
which a few months before had scaled the Pyrenees and 
driven the veteran troops of France from a position which 
Soult had been fortifying for three months, now halted 
in front of the paltry defences of Plattsburg, was certainly 
one which probably no other officer of the British army but 
Sir George Prevost would have cared to exhibit. But the 
natural timidity of this man steeled him effectually against 
all feelings of shame, and the soldiers whom he commanded 
could only wonder how they had fallen under such control 
as his. 

The ostensible cause of Sir George Prevost's delay before 
Plattsburg was his desire for the cooperation of the fleet on 
the lake. This fleet was miserably weak, and its largest 
vessel, the Confiance, had only been launched on the twenty- 
fifth of August, and was not nearly ready for service at the 
time when the advance on Plattsburg commenced. Yet it 
was on the fitness of this ship to meet and defeat the enemy 
that the whole success of the campaign was made to rest. 
Captain Downie, who had been one of Sir James Yeo's cap- 
tains on Lake Ontario, commanded the British flotilla, and 
Sir George states in his official despatch that immediately 
after his arrival at Plattsburg he requested Captain Downie's 
cooperation. He does not, however, state that this request 
for Downie's assistance was made in such terms as must 
have been extremely galling to that brave officer, and led 
him to go into action before his vessels were ready, and to 
make his attack rashly and even recklessly, so as to give the 
enemy every advantage. Sir George sent one letter to the 



PI.ATTSBURG 319 

commander of the fleet stating that the army had long been 
waiting for him; that it had been under arms from dayhght, 
the day before, in exjK'ctation of the fleet, and closing witii 
the hope that nothing but the state of the wind prevented 
the fleet from coming up. The brave Downie replied that 
he required no urging to do his duty; that he should be up 
the first shift of the wind, and give the signal of his 
approacii by scaling his guns. Captain Downie's flotilla 
was then lying at Isle La Motte, and a breeze that would 
be fair for it to come (l(»\vii the lake would be adverse 
when it souglit to enter Phittsburg Bay and approach the 
American fleet. 

The east side of the mouth of Plattsburg Bay is formed 
by Cumberland Head; the entrance is about a mile and a 
half across, and the other boundary south-west from the 
Head is an extensive shoal and a small low island callerl 
Crab Island on which the Americans had a two-gun battery. 
Macdonougii had arranged his vessels in a line extending 
from a point three-cjuarters of a mile inside of Cumberland 
Head to the shoal off Crab Island. The head of his line 
was so close to the eastern shore of Plattsl)urg Bay that an 
attempt to turn it would place the British under a very heavy 
fire from the battery on Cumberland Head, while the other 
end of the line was (^cpially well ])rotected by the shoal and 
the battery on Crab Island. The line was about a mile and 
a half distant from the American batteries, and, therefore, 
within range of their heavy long guns. Macdonough's force 
consisted of the ship Saratoga, the brig Eagle, the schooner 
Ticonderoga, the sloop Preble and ten gunboats. These 
vessels carried between them eighty-six guns, viz., fourteen 
long 24's, twelve long LS's, twelve long 12's, seven long 9's, 
six short 42's, twenty-nine short 32's and six short 18's, and 
they threw a broadside weighing one thousand one hundred 
and ninety-four pounds. Captain Downie's fleet consisted 
of the ship Confiance, just launched, the brig Linnet, the 
sloops Chubb and Fineh, and twelve gunl)oats carrying 
eighty-seven guns, viz., thirty long 24's, five long 18's, six- 



320 THE WAR OF 1812 

teen long 12's, five long 6's, fourteen short 32's, and seven- 
teen short 18's. These vessels threw a broa'dside of one 
thousand one hundred and thirteen pounds. Had Captain 
Downie's flagship, the Conflance, been fully completed and 
properly equipped, her superiority in long guns would have 
made her in a seaway far more than a match for the Sara- 
toga, Macdonough's largest vessel, but this superiority was 
wholly lost by the manner in which Downie attacked the 
enemy, and, as the battle was fought, the advantage was 
with the Americans. 

On the morning of the eleventh of September, Captain 
Downie got his fleet under weigh, and gave the signal of his 
approach to Sir George Prevost by scaling his guns. Pres- 
ently, as Sir George states in his despatch: "Our flotilla 
was seen over the isthmus which joins Cumberland Head 
with the mainland, steering for Plattsburg Bay." Captain 
Downie relied on the instant advance of the army against 
the works of Plattsburg, the moment his signal was given, 
and in haranguing his men before the engagement he said: 
"My lads, we shall be immediately assisted by the army 
ashore. Let us show them that our part of the duty is well 
done." Only this belief could have induced him to make 
the headlong attack he did, and it is safe to say that his attack 
would have succeeded and the American fleet been destroyed 
or taken had the army given their instant cooperation, as 
promised. But instead of doing this, the caitiff who 
commanded the British army, when he heard Downie's 
guns, ordered his men to cook, and never put them into 
motion at all until the fleet was entering Plattsburg Bay, 
so that, as the soldiers had a circuit of miles to make, they 
did not get within striking distance of the enemy's strong- 
hold until nearly three hours had elapsed, and the naval en- 
gagement was at an end. Downie had been forced into 
an engagement under an enormous disadvantage; he had 
been slain and his fleet defeated, and all the larger vessels 
captured. 

Macdonough's line of battle, as already stated, extended 



PLATTSBURG 



321 



across Plattsburg Bay. At ity head or north-eastern end 
were two gunboats, each carrying one long 24-pounder and 
one short 18-poiindor. Next to them was the brig Eagle, 
carrying eight long 12's and twelve 32-pounder carronades, 
and throwing a broadside of two hundred and sixty-four 
pounds. Behind the Eagle were two gunboats similar to 
those just described, and then came the ship Saratoga carry- 
ing eight long 24-pounders, six 42-pounders and twelve 
32-pounder carronades and throwing a broadside which 
weighed four hundred and fourteen pounds. Three gun- 
boats were in line behind the Saratoga, two of them similar 
to those to the north of her, and the third armed with one 
long 12-pounder. Then came the Ticonderoga armed with 




Map of Plattsbuhg 



four long 18's, eight long 12's and five 32-pounder carronades. 
This vessel's broadside weighed one hundred and eighty 
pounds. Behind lior were three gunboats and the sloop 
Preble, the latter being under the guns of the battery on 



322 THE WAR OF 1812 

Crab Island. Each of these gunboats carried one long 12, 
while the Preble was armed with seven long 9's and her broad- 
side weighed thirty-six pounds. All Macdonough's larger 
vessels were at anchor, but the galleys were under their 
sweeps and their position was therefore liable to be changed. 
They formed a second line about forty yards back from the 
larger vessels. By this arrangement Macdonough's line 
could not be doubled upon, there was not room to anchor 
on his broadside out of reach of his carronades, and the 
British were forced to attack him by standing in bows on. 
Such a course involved enormous difficulty, especially with 
an adverse wind, and the fact that the American line could 
not be turned at either end, because of the land batteries 
which covered it, added greatly to the risk of such an attack. 
Downie had to assail an enemy of superior force in its own 
chosen position which it had improved with all the skill 
at its command, for Macdonough not only had provided 
all his vessels with springs but also with anchors to be used 
astern in any emergency. The Saratoga was further pre- 
pared for a change of wind, or for the necessity of winding 
ship, by having a kedge planted broad off on each of her bows 
with a hawser and preventer hawser hanging in bights under 
water leading from each quarter to the kedge on that side. 

On the morning of the eleventh of September there was 
a light breeze from the north-east which brought the British 
fleet rapidly down the lake. When Captain Downie had 
fairly opened Plattsburg Bay he hove to with his four large 
vessels, and waited for his galleys to overtake him. Then 
he filled away on the starboard tack, and headed for the 
American line, the Chuhh to the north, well to windward 
of the Eagle, for whose bows the Linnet was pointed, while 
the Confiance was to be laid athwart the hawse of the Sara- 
toga. The Finch was to leeward with the gunboats and was 
to engage the rear of the American line. As the Confiance 
approached, the Saratoga opened upon her with her long 
24-pounders, to which she was able to make no reply, and 
she suffered severely from the fire. She was also baffled 



PLATTtiBURCJ 323 

by shifting winds, and was soon so cut up by the fire of 
the American fleet, both her port-bow anchors being shot 
away and many of her crew being killed and wounded, that 
she was obliged to port her helm and come to while still 
nearly a quarter of a mile distant from the Saratoga. Cap- 
tain Downie came to anchor in good style, securing every- 
thing carefully before he fired a gun, and then opening with 
a terribly destructive broadside. The Chubb and Linnet 
stood farther in and anchored forward of the Eagle's beam. 
The Eagle got abreast of the Ticonderoga under her sweeps 
supported by the larger gunboats, five in number. The 
smaller British gunboats held aloof from close fighting 
throughout the action, and thereby destroyed any chance 
Downie might have had of winning the battle. 

The battle naturally divided itself into two combats, the 
van one between the Chubb, Linnet and Confiance on the 
British side, and the Eagle, Saratoga and seven gunboats 
on the American side ; and the rear combat between the Finch, 
with the British gunboats, and the Ticonderoga and Preble, 
and three American gunboats, aided by the two-gun battery 
on Crab Island. The Confiance carried twenty-seven long 
24's and eight short 32's and her broadside weight of metal 
was four hundred and thirty-two pounds. The Linnet carried 
sixteen long 12's and threw a broadside weighing ninety- 
six pounds. The Chubb carried ten short 18's and one long 
6, and threw ninety-six pounds. The Finch carried seven 
short 18's, four long 6's and threw a broadside of eighty- 
four pounds. The five British gunboats which took an 
active part in the engagement carried two long 24's, three 
long 18's and two 32-pounder carronades. The force arrayed 
in each of these combats, was therefore as follows: — 

Van Combat 

American. British. 

Weight of Broadaide; Weight of Broadside. 

Eagle 246 lbs. Chubb 96 lbs. 

Saratoga 414 " Linnet 96 " 

Seven 'gunboats 246 " Confiance 432 " 

942 lbs. 624 lbs. 



324 THE WAR OF 1812 

Rear Combat 

American British, 

Weight of Broadside. Weight of Broadside. 

Ticonderoga 180 lbs. Finch 84 lbs. 

Preble 36 " Five gunboats 166 " 

Three gunboats 36 " 

252 lbs. 250 lbs. 

It will be seen from the foregoing statement that in the 
van combat there was a preponderance of more than one-half 
against the British in weight of metal, while in the rear com- 
bat the forces arrayed against each other were nearly equal. 
But the manner in which the American rear was covered by 
the two-gun battery on Crab Island gave them a very great 
advantage. It was at this end of the line that the British 
experienced their first reverse at an early stage of the com- 
bat. The Finch, in manoeuvring to close on the Ticon- 
deroga, struck on the shoal which extends out from Crab 
Island, and grounded in such a position that she became help- 
less. The guns on the Crab Island battery opened upon her, 
and she w^as raked by the Ticonderoga so that she was 
finally compelled to haul down her flag. The five British 
gunboats under Lieutenant Bell now forced . the Prehle out 
of the line, compelling her to cut her cable and drift inshore 
out of the fight. They then made a very determined attack 
on the Ticonderoga, and had they succeeded in capturing 
her the day would have been won for the British, but after 
a severe struggle they w^re repulsed, being much over- 
matched in weight of metal. 

In the meantime the fighting at the head of the line had 
been severe. The Confiance, although her equipment was 
so imperfect that she was quite unfit for an engagement, 
was most gallantly fought, but it was among the most serious 
disasters of that fatal day that Captain Downie should have 
been killed almost at the beginning of the action. The 
Chuhh and Linnet, at the extreme end of the line, were ex- 
cellently fought, but the former had her cable, bowsprit and 



PLATTSBURG 325 

main boom shot away aiiel di-iflccl within the American hnes 
and was captured. The Linnet although of only about one- 
third the force of the Eagle, fairly defeated that vessel and 
shot away her springs so that she came up in the wind. 
This compelled her commander to cut his cable, run down 
and anchor by the stern, between the Ticonderoya and the 
Confiance, from which position he opened on the latter. 
The Linnet now directed her attention to the American gun- 
boats at that end of the line, finally driving them off, and 
springing her broadside so as to rake the Saratoga on her 
bows. 

Tlie Confiance, although so heavily overmatched by the 
gunboats and the Saratoga, had succeeded in wholly disabling 
and dismounting the entire starboard battery of the latter 
vessel. The battle would have been won but for the provision 
which Macdonough had made for swinging his ship. When 
all his starboard guns had been silenced, he succeeded in 
getting the Saratoga round so that he was able to open with 
his port battery on the Confiance. The latter also attempted 
to round but having only springs to rely on her efforts 
did little beyond forcing her forward, and she hung with 
her head to the wind. She had lost one-half of her crew, 
most of her guns on the engaged side were dismounted, and 
her stout masts had been splintered until they looked like 
bundles of matches, her sails had been torn to rags and she 
was forced to strike about two hours and a half after she had 
fired the first broadside. The Linnet, connnanded by the 
gallant Captain Pring, maintained the unequal fight for about 
fifteen minutes longer, and only struck w^hen the water had 
risen a foot above her lower deck. Tlien the plucky little 
brig hauled down her colours, and the fight ended about 
three hours after the first shot had been fired. The galleys 
that had been engaged with the Ticonderoga rowed away 
and escaped with the other seven, under Lieutenant Rayot, 
which had held aloof from the action. The American vessels 
were all too much disabled to follow them. The American 
loss in this action was about two hundred and that of the 



326 THE WAR OF 1812 

British considerably more, probably about two hundred and 
seventy. 

Sir James Yeo's comment upon this action in his letter 
to Mr. Crocker easily discloses the cause of the failure of 
Captain Downie's attack. ''It appears to me, and I have 
good reason to believe," said he, "that Captain Downie was 
urged and his ship hurried into action before he was in a fit 
state to meet the enemy. I am also of the opinion that there 
was not the least necessity for our squadron giving the enemy 
such decided advantages by going into their bay to engage 
them. Even had they been successful, it would not in the 
least have assisted the troops in storming the batteries; 
whereas had our troops taken their batteries first, it would 
have obliged the enemy's squadron to quit the bay and give 
ours a fair chance." Captain Macdonough's elaborate pre- 
parations for defence would have been of no avail had 
Captain Downie anchored his vessels out of carronade range 
and kept pounding the enemy with his long guns. Or if a 
headlong attack had to be made. Captain Downie should 
have thrown his entire force on the windward end of the 
American line, leaving to the enemy's vessels to leeward the 
difficult or impossible task of working up to windward to the 
assistance of their comrades. 

Sir George Prevost states in his despatch that his batteries 
opened on the enemy the instant the ships engaged. He 
also says: "I immediately ordered that part of the brigade 
under Major-General Robinson which had been brought 
forward, consisting of our light infantry companies, third 
battalion 27th and 76th Regiments, and Major-General 
Power's brigade, consisting of the 3rd, 5th, and the first 
battalion of the 27th and 58th Regiments, to force the fords 
of the Saranac, and advance provided with scaling-ladders 
to escalade the enemy's works, when I had the mortification 
to hear the shout of victory from the enemy's works in conse- 
quence of the British flag being lowered on board the Confiance 
and Linnet, and to see our gunboats seeking their safety in 
flight. This unlooked-for event deprived me of the coopera- 



PLATTSBURG 327 

tioii of the fleet, without which the further prosecution of the 
service became impracticable. I did not hesitate to arrest 
the course of the troops advancing to the attack, because 
the most complete success would have been unavailing, and 
the possession of the enemy's works offered no advantage to 
compensate for the loss we must have sustained in acquiring 
possession of them." 

So much for Sir George Prevost's reasons for his disgrace- 
ful retreat which excited tlie keenest feeling of indignation 
among all the ofhcers and men of the army which he com- 
manded. Major-General Robinson, a brave Loyalist officer, 
who had served under Wellington at St. Sebastian, Yittoria, 
Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse, protested against the order of 
his military superior to retreat, because from the position 
of his troops he was of the opinion that his loss of men would 
be greater in a retreat than in an advance upon the Ameri- 
can works. Major-General Brisbane offered to cross the 
Saranac in force and carry the enemy's works in twenty 
minutes. But nothing could move this miserable general 
to take a manly stand. Having forced Captain Downie into 
an action for which he was not prepared, and having induced 
him under false representations to make a headlong and rash 
attack, he now made his own failure to cooperate and the 
disaster which resulted from his own misconduct, the pretext 
for a dishonourable and disgraceful retreat from before an 
enemy in every way inferior. 

Sir George Prevost retreated from Plattsburg with his 
army on the night after the battle on the lake. What was 
thought of this retreat at the time, both by Canadians and 
Americans, may be gathered from the following extract from 
a pamphlet written by a gentleman who resided near the scene 
of action. This writer says: "It is a fact that the American 
commodore was so impressed with the idea that their works 
on shore would still be carried, that he did not take pos- 
session of our vessels for a long time after the action terminat- 
ed; he being employed in getting his ow^n out of reach of 
guns from the shore, apprehending that their own batteries 



328 THE WAR OF 1812 

would be turned against them. In the evening he expressed 
an expectation that the British colours would be seen flying 
upon the American works, and when General Macomb came 
off at daylight to say that our army had retreated in the 
night of the eleventh, leaving their sick and wounded behind 
and destroying quantities of stores and provisions Commo- 
dore Macdonough would not credit the fact; but when it 
was persisted in, cautioned Macomb to beware of a ruse de 
guerre, as the British army would either return next night, 
or was then proceeding by forced marches to Sacketts Har- 
bour. It is known that Macomb, notwithstanding all his 
puffs about our defeat, was actually sitting in gloomy despair 
upon a gun while our troops were advancing upon the eleventh, 
and was ready to surrender the moment that the first British 
soldier appeared upon the parapet. And when he was noti- 
fied that they had suddenly halted and were then on the 
retreat, he started up, almost frantic with joy, and could 
hardly believe the evidence of his senses. He had only with 
him about one thousand five hundred of the refuse of the 
American troops on the Plattsburg duty, the effectives having 
previously marched off for Sacketts Harbour under General 
Izard. To this may be added perhaps three thousand 
militia chiefly collected after Sir George halted on the sixth, 
at Plattsburg, and on which day he might have entered their 
works almost without opposition had our troops not been 
■ kept back for a grand coup, and behold its finale!" 

The total loss of the British army in the operations from 
the sixth to the fourteenth of September inclusive amount- 
ed to thirty-seven killed, one hundred and fifty wounded, 
and fifty-five missing, a grand total of two hundred and 
thirty-five. This return is a complete answer to all the 
absurd stories that have been published l^y Lossing, and other 
American historians of the war, in regard to the desperate 
fighting of Macomb's regulars and militia. The greater part 
of the British did not encounter the American troops at all, 
and there was at no time anything like a severe contest. The 
troops were so disquieted and dispirited by the manner in 



PLATTSBURG 



329 



which they had been treated by their commander tluit a great 
many of them deserted on the retreat, a fact which Sir George 
was able to conceal in his official letter by dating it on the 
day of the naval battle, although it was written several days 
later at Montreal, whither he had retired leaving his army 
distributed between Isle Aux Noix, St. Johns, Chaml)ly, 
and La Prairie. Thus ended the Plattsburg campaign. 

After the failure of the assault on Lake Erie, Lieutenant- 
General Drummond continued to besiege that fortress, which 




Fort Kiuk ano thk Battle of .Septembkh 17th. ISU 



was daily being strengthened by the labour of the garrison. 
The British were reinforced by the arrival of the 6th and 
82nd Regiments, whose united strength was about one thou- 
sand one hundred rank and file, but the departure of the 
six companies of the 41st Regiment for Fort George and of 
what was left of the 103rd for Burlington Heights, left hnn 



330 THE WAR OF 1812 

but little stronger in numbers than he had been before the 
assault, and in effective strength much weaker, owing to the 
prevalence of typhoid fever among the troops, caused by the 
heavy and constant rains and the low and swampy nature 
of the ground on which they were encamped. The Ameri- 
cans had been heavily reinforced, and largely outnumbered 
the British, so that the novel spectacle was presented of a 
British army besieging a larger American army in a fort 
which was open to the lake which the Americans still com- 
manded, and which therefore could be reinforced at any time 
from Buffalo, as fast as troops were collected. The Americans 
had taken the precaution of protecting their flanks, after the 
capture of the Ohio and Somers, by anchoring four armed 
brigs of Perry's fleet and a schooner on the lake opposite 
Fort Erie. Yet with all these advantages General Brown 
did not consider himself safe and insisted on being reinforced 
by Izard's command from Lake Champlain. 

The impossibility of the British army being readily rein- 
forced from Kingston, owing to the command of Lake On- 
tario having passed for the time to Chauncey, and the weak 
state to which his force had been reduced by sickness, deter- 
mined Drummond to remove his troops to a healthier position. 
News of this intention of the British general reached Brown 
by means of deserters, and at the same time came the news 
of the Plattsburg affair. At this juncture. Brown was rein- 
forced by the arrival of upwards of two thousand volunteers 
under General Porter. All these favourable circumstances oc- 
curring at the same time induced the American general, who 
on the tenth of September had been writing imploring letters 
to Izard in which he said, "I consider the fate of this army 
very doubtful unless speedy relief is afforded," to make 
a grand sortie against the British works and thereby gain 
the credit of compelling Drummond to raise the siege. This 
plan was carried out on the afternoon of the seventeenth of 
September, when General Brown knew that De Watteville's 
Regiment would be doing duty at the batteries. These bat- 
teries were distant a mile and a half from the British camp 



PLATTSBURG 



331 



and situaU'il in the niklst of a thick woods. Three of them 
were armed with cannon, but a fourth which had been com- 
menced and which was intended to enfilade the western 
ramparts of the American works, had not been completetl 
owin^ to the want of guns with which to arm it. The active 
batteries were numbered 1, 2 and 3 respectively, beginning 
at the British left and going towards their right. 

Shortly after noon General Porter with his volunteers, 
more than two thousand in nunilx'i-, and {)arts of four regi- 
ments of regular infantry, adxanced through the woods by 
a circuitous route which had been previously marked, and 
which placed them within pistol shot of the British right 
battery. No. o, without their being discovered. About the 




Mkdal struck in honour of General Ripley 



same time lirigadier-General James Miller with three regi- 
ments of infantry moved, by way of a ravine which concealed 
his troops, to attack the British centre. He was supported 
by the 21st Regiment under General Ripley acting as a re- 
serve. The advance was made under cover of a heavy fire 
from the American batteries, and it was greatly favoured by 



332 THE WAR OF 1812 

a thick fog which concealed the enemy's approach. At three 
o'clock Porter's men rushed from the woods in which they 
were hidden and attacked the British right, while Miller's 
column penetrated the British centre, a little to the right of 
battery No. 2.. Being in overwhelming numbers and the 
attack being a complete surprise, the opposition they met 
with was comparatively slight. Miller's column turned to 
the left and succeeded in surrounding the British right then 
briskly engaged with Porter's men, and obtained possession 
of battery No. 3. The small blockhouse behind it, garrisoned 
by a few men of the 8th Regiment, was also captured after 
a severe struggle. The three guns in the battery were im- 
mediately destroyed and the magazine blown up. 

The Americans now turned to the right and attacked the 
centre British battery No. 2. This also was carried, as well 
as the blockhouse behind it, after a very gallant resistance 
made by the weak detachment composed of a part of the 
8th and of De Watteville's Regiment by which it was defend- 
ed. Miller was at this time joined by his reserve and he con- 
tinued his advance to the right for the purpose of attacking 
battery No. 1. His attack on this work, however, failed, for 
the arrival of reinforcements from the camp brought the 
short-lived success of Porter and Miller to a sudden end. The 
moment the alarm was given, the Royal Scots, with the 89th 
as a support, moved by the new road and met and engaged 
the enemy near the captured blockhouse in the rear of No. 3 
battery, and checked their further progress in that direction. 
That gallant Canadian regiment, the Glengarry Light Infan- 
try, advanced by the centre road, and, headed by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Battersby, attacked the enemy's forces in the new 
intrenchments and drove them out of them. At the same 
moment seven companies of the 82nd Regiment under Major 
Procter, and three companies of the 6th under Major Taylor; 
the whole numbering less than six hundred rank and file, were 
detached to the left to support batteries 1 and 2. The 
latter had fallen into the hands of the enemy before this 
reinforcement arrived, but Miller's strong column was im- 



I'LATTSHURG 



333 



lutHliately attacketl by Taylor's aiul Procter's men with the 
bayonet with such intrepid bravery that the Americans 
were not only forced back from No. 1 battery, but driven out 
of No. 2 with such haste that they had no time to destroy it 
or damage its guns to any considerable extent. The Ameri- 
cans sought safety in flight, leaving a number of prisoners 
and many of their wounded in the hands of the British. 
They were pursued almost to the glacis of Fort Erie, and by 






i 



A Bronzk Tablet kecently erected in Buffalo to commemorate the Battles 
OF Lake Erie, Chippawa, Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie 



five o'clock all the intrenchments were again occupied by the 
British, and the line of })ickets established as it had been 
previous to the enemy's attack. 

In this affair the Americans had upwards of four thousand 
men engaged, about one-half volunteers, and the lemainder 
regulars belonging to eight regiments of infantry and rifles, 
besides dismounted dragoons and engineers. The momentary 
possession they obtained of two of tlie British batteries caused 



334 THE WAR OF 1812 

them to proclaim this sortie as a victory, conveniently ignor- 
ing the easy manner in which they were afterwards driven 
out of these same batteries by a very inferior force of British 
regulars. The Americans give their loss as five hundred and 
ten, of whom eighty were killed and four hundred and thirty 
wounded or missing. This return, however, does not appear 
to include the losses of the volunteers. The British lost six 
hundred and nine men, of whom one hundred and fifteen were 
killed, one hundred and seventy-eight wounded, and three 
hundred and sixteen missing. Nearly two-thirds of this loss 
fell on the detachment of the 8th and De Watteville's Regi- 
ment stationed at the batteries where the attack was made. 
The latter regiment alone lost two hundred and sixty-four 
men, a greater number than was killed, wounded and missing 
in the entire British army in the Plattsburg campaign. 

On the evening of the twenty-first of September, four days 
after this sortie. General Drummond carried out his previously 
formed resolution of abandoning the siege of Fort Erie. He 
removed his guns and stores and retired with his force to 
a position a couple of miles from his former encampment. 
There he remained until the afternoon of the following day, 
when as the Americans made no movement from Fort Erie, 
he leisurely withdrew to Frenchman's Creek a couple of miles 
farther. On the twenty-fourth he encamped at General 
Riall's old quarters at Chippawa, having previously destroyed 
the bridge over Frenchman's Creek and established a cavalry 
picket there. 

In the meantime General Izard, with about four thousand 
men, had been advancing from Lake Champlain towards the 
Niagara frontier. He arrived at Sacketts Harbour on the 
seventeenth of September, and on the twenty-first embarked 
with two thousand five hundred infantry in Chauncey's fleet, 
leaving his cavalry and artillery to go by land. Izard landed 
his men at the mouth of the Genessee River, and marched 
them to Lewiston, which he reached on the fifth of October. 
The British camp on the other side of the Niagara River was 
in sight, but Izard was in no haste to attack it. It was not 



PLATTSBURG 



335 



until the clevc'iith that he crossed iit lihick Rock and took 
command of all the forces about Fort Erie. He was now 
at the head of an army numbering more than eight thousand 
men, and had, therefore, about three times the force of General 
Drummond. When Izard advanced towards Chippawa the 
latter prudently retired upon Fort George and Burlington. 
The only affair that grew out of Izard's advance was a combat 
which took place on the morning of the nineteenth at Cook's 
Mills on L^'on's Creek between six hundred and fifty men of 
the 82nd, lOOtli and Glengarry Regiments under Colonel 
Myers, and General Bissel's brigade about one thousand four 
hundred strong, comprising the 5th, 14th, 15th and 16th 
Reghnents of United States regular infantry, a company of 




A Medal i'hkpakkd about 1815 by the Loyal and Patriotic Society but 

NEVER distributed 



riflemen, and a squadron of dragoons. Tlie thickness of the 
woods prevented the action being decisive, but in point of 
loss the Americans suffered most. The Americans had twelve 
men killed, fifty-four wounded and one man taken prisoner. 
The British loss in killed and wounded was nineteen. The 
rough handling which his men received in the affair ditl not 
encourage General Izard to attempt any further movement. 
On the following day he fell back to Fort Erie. 



336 THE WAR OF 1812 

General Izard's retreat was hastened by the arrival of a 
reinforcement for General Drummond, consisting of five 
companies of the 90th Regiment which with a supply of 
provisions for the army had been landed by the British fleet 
at Burlington on the nineteenth. Sir James Yeo had once 
more the command of the lake. His large two-decker the 
St. Lawrence had been completed, and his adversary Chauncey, 
believing with Falstaff that "the better part of valour is 
discretion," had retired with his fleet to Sacketts Harbour. 
Sir James Yeo had left Kingston on the seventeenth with 
these troops and supplies; on the twenty-third he was back 
at Kingston, and on the first of November he sailed from 
thence with the 37th Regiment, recruits for the 6th and 82nd 
Regiments and a brigade of artillery. These were disem- 
barked at Fort George on the evening of the second. General 
Izard was very prompt to take the hint conveyed by the 
arrival of this small reinforcement. His whole army crossed 
the Niagara River at the Black Rock Ferry and abandoned 
Canada. On the fifth of November the works of Fort Erie 
were blown up and laid in ruins, and the farcical pretence, 
which had been kept up for more than three months, of des- 
perately holding a few acres of Canadian ground was brought 
to a sudden end. After three campaigns Canada had proved 
too tough a subject for the Americans, and its suffering people 
were left in peace. 

It had been expected that Sir George Prevost, with so large 
a force at his disposal, would have made an attack on Sacketts 
Harbour for the purpose of destroying the American fleet 
there. But no attempt of this kind was made; the war was 
over, so far as Canada was concerned, and as soon as lake 
navigation closed the armies on both sides went into winter 
quarters. Very elaborate plans were formed during the 
winter for a vigorous prosecution of the contest when the 
spring opened, but the time for their realization never came. 
Before the snows of winter had melted peace had been pro- 
claimed and all fears of another invasion were at an end. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON 

Having brought the narrative of the events in Canada to 
a close, it now only remains to deal briefly with the naval 
and military occurrences on the ocean, and seaboard of the 
United States from the beginning of 1814 to the end of the 
war. During the whole of this year so strict a blockade 
was maintained by the British along the entire American 
coast, that very few of the enemy's vessels got to sea. It 
was only when the blockading vessels were driven off their 
cruising ground by severe weather that the blockaded war- 
ships were able to slip out and make their way to some dis- 
tant sea where they could prey on British commerce. 

In 1813, the American frigate Essex, commanded by Cap- 
tain David Porter, entered the Pacific and captured a number 
of British whalers. In January, 1814, she was anchored 
in the harbour of Valparaiso in company with one of her 
prizes which had been armed and named the Essex Junior. 
Here she was blockaded for seven weeks by the British frigate 
Phoebe, Captain Hillyar, and the 24-gun ship Chenih. The 
following statement shows the comparative force of these 
vessels : — 

British American 

Weight of broadside. Weight of broadside. 

Phoebe, 26 long IS's ^ Essex, 40 short 32's 1 p-. ]u„ 



14 short .32's 6 long 12's / 

2 long 12's - 497 lbs. 
2 long 9's 
2 short 18'sj 
Cherub, 18 short 32's j Essex Junior, > 

4 short 18's ■ 342 lbs. 10 short 18's • 120 lbs. 

2 long 9's I 10 long 6's ' 

839 lbs. 795 lbs. 

22 



338 THE WAR OF 1812 

It will be seen from this statement that in weight of metal 
there was very little difference between the British and Ameri- 
can vessels, but the British were greatly superior in long gun 
metal. On the twenty-eighth of March the Essex tried to 
escape, but, having her mainmast carried away in a squall, 
was compelled to anchor near the shore where she was at- 
tacked by the Phoebe and Cherub and forced to surrender. 
Captain Hillyar coolly selected his own distance and pounded 
the Essex to pieces with his long guns, just as Captain Downie 
might have done on Lake Champlain. The loss of the Essex 
was one hundred and eleven killed and wounded. Both 
the British vessels lost but five killed and ten wounded be- 
tween them. 

On the twenty-ninth of April the American corvette Pea- 
cock, Captain Warrington, captured the British brig Epervier, 
after an engagement which lasted three-quarters of an hour. 
The Peacock was much the superior vessel as the following 
comparison will show: — 



Peacock . 
Epervier 



o. of broadside guns. 


Weight of metal. 


Crew. 


11 


338 lbs. 


166 


9 


274 " 


118 



The British vessel had twenty-three killed and wounded, 
the loss of the Peacock was only two men. The gunnery 
of the Epervier seems to have been very bad. 

On the twenty-eighth of June, the United States corvette, 
Wasp, captured the British brig, Reindeer, after a desperate 
engagement. The comparative force of these vessels was as 
follows : — 

Wasp 

Reindeer 



side 


! guns. 


Weight of metal. 


No. of men. 


11 




338 


173 


10 




210 


118 



The Reindeer lost sixty-seven in killed and wounded, the 
Wasp twenty-three. The action was one of the most stub- 
bornly contested of the whole war. 

On the first of September the Wasp fought a night engage- 
ment with the British brig Avo7i and reduced her to a sink- 



THE CAITI'UE OF WASIIIXCITON 339 

ing condition so as to compel hor to strike. Tlie Avon was of 
the same force in weight of metal and number of men as the 
Epervier. She lost forty-two men in the action; the Wasp 
lost three. The American vessel was prevented from taking 
possession of her prize by the approach of another British 
warship which rescued the crew of the shattered and sinking 
Avon. 

In the early part of 1815 there were four affairs on the 
ocean, which will be most conveniently disposed of here. 
The first of these was the capture off Madeira of the Cyane 
and Levant by the United States frigate Constitution on the 
twentieth of February. Their armament as compared with 
the Constitution was as follows: — 

British Amekican 

Weight of broadside. Weight of broadside. 

Cyane, 23 short 32's j 

10 short 18's - 4.54 lbs. 

2 lonjj; 12's I Constitution, 32 long 2i's ) 7Qr ik 

Levant, IS short 32's ) 22 short 32's / '•*" '''S. 

2 long 9's - 309 lbs. 



1 Ions 12 



r63 



The Constitution carried four hundred and fifty men; the 
two British vessels had three hundred and twenty men be- 
tween them. While there is an apparent equality in the 
weight of metal, there was in reality an enormous disparity 
of force, for, to say nothing of the superior thickness of her 
sides, a fast and weatherly frigate like the Constitution could 
keep her own distance out of reach of the short guns of the 
Cyane and Levant and (k^stroy them both. The Levant was 
afterwards recaptured by a British squadron. 

On the fifteenth of .lanuary the United States frigate 
President, Captam Decatur, was captured by a British squad- 
ron consisting of the razee Majestic^ and the frigates Endy- 
mion, Pomona and Tenedos, off Sandy Hook. The President 
was first overtaken and engaged by the Endymion, and this 
powerful frigate would no doubt have captured the American 
ship unaided, but for the arrival of her consorts to whom 



340 THE WAR OF 1812 

Decatur preferred to surrender. The capture of the Presi- 
dent was a fortunate event for it enabled the British naval 
officers to show their countrymen the kind of marine mon- 
sters, misnamed frigates, against which the Guerriere, Mace- 
donian, and Java had been rashly sent to contend. 

On the twenty-third of March the United States corvette 
Hornet captured the British brig Penguin in the south Atlantic. 
The American vessel was superior both in weight of metal 
and number of men, and the defence of the British brig seems 
to have been impaired by the early fall of her captain. 

On the thirtieth of June, several months after peace had 
been proclaimed, the Peacock encountered the East India 
Company's cruiser Nautilus off the port of Anjier. The com- 
mander of the Nautilus, Lieutenant Boyce, sent his purser, 
Mr. Bartlett, in one of his boats to inform Captain War- 
rington of the peace. This officer, instead of acting 
on the information thus given, immediately confined Mr, 
Bartlett below and advanced on the Nautilus. Lieu- 
tenant Boyce then hailed him to ask if he knew that peace 
had been declared. Warrington demanded that the Avon^s 
colours be hauled down, and on this being refused fired a 
couple of broadsides into the little vessel, which killed seven 
men, including her first-lieutenant, and wounded eight. The 
Nautilus which was less than one-third the force of the 
Peacock, then struck her colours. Warrington, having 
satisfied his thirst for murder by the slaying of seven 
men, instantly gave up the Nautilus with many hypocritical 
apologies and offers of assistance. To shield himself against 
the storm of indignation which his conduct had provoked, he 
pretended that Mr. Bartlett, who was sent expressly to notify 
him of the peace, did not deliver his message, a story so ab- 
surdly and shamelessly false that it would be an insult to the 
intelligence of the reader to notice it further. 

This year, for the first time, the American people began 
to realize the full significance of the war upon which they 
had so rashly entered. Hitherto the people of the sea-coast 
towns had only heard of it from a distance, now it was brought 



THI<: CAFrURE OF WASHINGTON 341 

to their own doors, and its effects were experienced by every 
man, woman and child in the country. The foreign trade 
of the United States had practically ceased to exist, and 
universal bankruptcy was threatened. The revenues had 
greatly fallen off in spite of the new and previously unknown 
forms of taxation that had been introduced, and the govern- 
ment was in great distress for lack of money. Loans could 
only be made at a ruinous rate of discount, and finally the 
prospect became so dark that they could not be made at all. 
The last loan attempted, for $25,000,000, which was offered 
in March, 1814, was less than half taken up and that on terms 
so unfavourable that the government was compelled to resort 
to the issue of treasury notes, which presently fell in value 
twenty-five per cent., while the army bills of Canada were at 
a premium. 

The first land operation undertaken by the British on the 
coast during the year was directed against Moose Island, or 
Eastport, in the state of Maine. On the eleventh of July, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Pilkington and Captain Sir Thomas Hardy 
with H. M. S. Ramillies and two transports, bearing six hun- 
dred men of the 102nd Regiment, arrived at Eastport from 
Shelburne, N.S., and summoned Major Putnam, who com- 
manded at Fort Sullivan, to surrender. This officer was 
allowed just five minutes to make up his mind. He declined 
to surrender, upon which the troops were placed in the boats, 
but before they had reached the shore the flag of the fort was 
hauled down, and on their landing a capitulation was agreed 
to. Thus Moose Island and the islands adjacent, together 
with Fort Sullivan and its garrison of eighty men, fell into 
the hands of the British without any loss of life. In the fort 
were found ten guns, six of them mounted, and a considerable 
quantity of ammunition and small arms. Eastport remained 
in our possession until three years after the end of the war, 
and during that period enjoyed a brisk trade. 

No two states of the union had been more zealous advocates 
of the war than Maryland and Virginia, which between them 
had a population of nearly a million and a half of souls, of 



342 THE WAR OF 1812 

whom more than half a milhon were slaves. Virginia was 
the home of Jefferson to whose anti-British feeling the war 
was mainly due, and it was the native state of Henry Clay, 
whose inflammatory harangues in Congress and political 
intrigues had led to hostilities between the two nations. It 
was therefore but natural and proper that Maryland and 
Virginia, as the main supports of this unnecessary contest, 
should be made to experience some of its worst elTects. It 
might have been supposed that in these states, where patriot- 
ism appeared to be at such a fever heat, and which claimed 
to be the seats of chivalry and courage, there would have 
been some notable displays of daring in the field, but it seemed 
that the men of Virginia and Maryland were only good at 
fighting with their tongues and pens. In this they resembled 
those favourite sons of Virginia, Jefferson and Madison. They 
could talk bravely of war when it was at a distance, but 
when it came near their own doors they could think of no- 
thing but flight. Jefferson was always a timid man, as his 
conduct in 1781, when Virginia, of which he was then go\- 
ernor, was invaded by Arnold and Simcoe, conclusively 
proved, and Madison showed himself the same when Virginia 
and the district of Columbia were invaded in 1814. 

Vice-Admiral Cockburn had long cherished the design of 
capturing Washington, and by his experience with the militia 
of Virginia and Maryland in the course of his operations in 
Chesapeake Bay, he was strengthened in the belief that this 
could be accomplished. The American government had early 
been informed of the probability of an attack on their capital, 
and its defence had been entrusted to General Winder and a 
body of militia and regulars. In view of the threatened 
invasion a reciuisition was made On the several states for 
ninety-three thousand men, of whom Maryland, Pennsyl- 
vania and Virginia, the states lying nearest to Washington, 
were to contribute thirty-two thousand. These troops were 
to be embodied and held for immediate service, and it was 
intended that fifteen thousand of them should be kept at 
Washington for the defence of the seat of government. 



THE CAPTUHK OF WASIIIXOTON 343 

On the fourteenth of August N'ice-Adnnral Cochrane, with 
a fleet having on board a land force under Major-General 
Ross, joined Vice-A(hniral Cockburn in Chesapeake Bay. 
The direct route to Washington was up the Potomac River 
to Port Tobacco, which is about fifty miles from its mouth, 
and thence overland thirty-two miles farther by the village 
of Piscataw^ay to the lower bridge across the eastern branch 
of the Potomac. The width of the river at this point, and 
the prospect of its being defended by vessels of war and a })0(ly 
of troops on the opposite bank, induced Ross and Cockburn 
to adopt the other route by way of the Patuxent. Accord- 
ingly the main body of the British advanced to this river, 
while Captain Gordon of the Seahorse, 38, the frigate 
Euryalus, 36, three bomb vessels and a rocket ship, moved 
up the Potomac to attack Fort Washington, which was about 
fourteen miles below the capital. At the same time Sir Peter 
Parker, with the frigate, Menelaus, 38, Was sent up the Ches- 
apeake above Baltimore to make a demonstration in that 
quarter. 

The defence of the uj)i)er waters of Chesapeake Bay had 
been confided by the American government to Commodore 
Barney, an officer who had i)een in the service of the French 
Directory. He had under liis command a flotilla of fourteen 
gunboats, each carrying one or two long 32, 24, or 18-pounders, 
according to the size of the vessel. The aggregate crews of 
this flotilla numbered about seven hundred men. The Ameri- 
cans had expected great results from this little fleet, but 
they were disappointed. Barney had retired with his ves- 
sels into the Patuxent, and as the British advanced up that 
river lie continued to retreat. Finally on the twenty-second 
of August, when the British were close at hand, the flotilla 
which was at Pig Point w^as destroyed by orders from Wash- 
ington. The British were advancing up the river in barges 
w^hen Barney's much vaunted fleet was blown up and the 
crews who had manned it fled. They joined Winder's army 
w^hich was charged with the defence of Washington. 

While Rear-Admiral Cockburn was pursuing the American 



344 THE WAR OF 1812 

flotilla with his seamen and marines, the army had been land- 
ed at Benedict, on the western bank of the Patuxent about 
fifty miles from Washington, and had marched by Notting- 
ham to Upper Marlborough where it arrived on the afternoon 
of the same day that the flotilla was destroyed. On the fol- 
lowing day the troops were joined by Cockburn and his 
marines. Washington was but sixteen miles distant, and 
it was determined to make a bold dash for it, trusting to 
daring and activity rather than to numbers. That evening, 
the twenty-third, the British forces which numbered about 
four thousand men, advanced and bivouacked for the night 
at Melwood, ten miles from Washington, near the junction 
of the roads leading to that city and to Alexandria Ferry. 
The American army under Winder which the previous night 
had encamped at Long Old Fields, less than three miles away, 
was now lying across the eastern branch of the Potomac 
within the limits of the Federal city. 

There was great alarm in Washington that night, Presi- 
dent Madison, Secretary of State Monroe and War Secretary 
Armstrong, who could so lightly sanction the invasion of 
Canada and destruction of Newark, were in a dreadful state 
of perturbation. General Winder was fairly distracted, for 
every one from the president down was tendering him ad- 
vice. Both Monroe and Armstrong had served in the Revo- 
lutionary War, and both believed themselves competent to 
command an army. Yet there was something ludicrous in 
the state of utter helplessness to which this warlike govern- 
ment had been reduced by the appearance of four thousand 
British troops. On the morning of the twenty-fourth of 
August, General Winder and the members of the adminis- 
tration were in council at his headquarters when intelligence 
came that the British were marching in the direction of 
Bladensburg, which is on the eastern branch of the Potomac, 
six miles from Washington. Up to that moment President 
Madison and his advisers had believed that Ross would either 
turn towards Fort Washington, or march against the capital 
by the eastern bridge, which being half a mile in length, 



THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON 345 

would have enabled Madison, Monroe and Armstrong to 
emulate Horatius Codes and his undaunted companions 
in defending their city in full view of its entire population, 
slaves included. Genera! Ross did not choose so far to 
gratify the American Cabinet, a circumstance which made 
necessary an instant change of plans on tlieir part. The 
troops in Washington were innnediately hurried off towards 
Bladensburg. Secretary Monroe was sent in advance of 
them to assist General Stansbury, whose brigade was al- 
ready at Bladensburg, to post his troops. General Winder 
and his staff followed, and lastly came War Secretary Arm- 
strong, the president and the attorney-general, all on horse- 
back, and anxious to take a conspicuous part in the warlike 
spectacle about to be displayed. 

The army under General Winder, accortling to American 
accounts, numbered seven thousand six hundred men, of 
whom six thousand five humh-ed and forty were at Bladens- 
burg. Of these more tiian four thousand were Maryland 
militia and volunteers; one thousand two hundred and forty 
were regulars of the army, or seamen and marines; more 
than one thousand one hundnMl were district of Columbia 
militia, and about one hundred were Vii'ginia dragoons. 
Bladensburg lies at the head of small craft navigation on the 
eastern branch of the Potomac, the river being crossed by 
a bridge about one hundred feet long, which formed a part 
of the old post-road from Washington to Baltimore. Another 
road from Georgetown joined the Washington road at an 
acute angle a few yards from the bridge. In the triangular 
space formed by these two roads, the Americans of Stansbury's 
command, who had been stationed at Bladensburg, were post- 
ed on the morning of the twent3^-fourth of August. On the 
brow of a little eminence, three hundred yards from the 
bridge, was an earthwork which was occupied by the artillery 
companies from Baltimore under Captains Myers and Ma- 
gruder, one hundred and fifty strong with six 6-pounders. 
On the right of the battery, near the junction of the roads 
and concealed by the bushes on the low ground near the 



346 THE WAR OF 1812 

river, Pinkney's Baltimore riflemen, one hundred and fifty 
in number, were posted. In the rear of the battery were two 
companies of Maryland militia, acting as riflemen. These 
were flanked by Captain Doughty's riflemen. Four hundred 
yards behnid the battery were Sterrett's 5th Regiment of 
Baltimore volunteers, five hundred strong, and the Maryland 
regiments of Ragan and Schultz, one thousand three hundred 
in number. Somewhat in the rear, on the extreme left, were 
the cavalry, five hundred and thirty all told, one hundred 
and forty of them regulars. Between Sterrett's and the 
cavalry on the left were Burch's artillery with four guns. 
In the turnpike road, at a distance of five hundred arid eight 
hundred yards from the river. Colonel Wadsworth had placed 
two fieldpieces which completely commanded the highway. 

About one thousand four hundred yards from the Bladens- 
burg bridge is a ravine, which the road crosses by means of 
a small bridge. On the rising land behind this. General 
Winder placed a third line of troops. Colonel Kramer's 
Maryland battalion was posted in front above the ravine, 
and the line was formed at a distance of about four hundred 
yards behind them. In the highway were two 18-pounders, 
manned by Barney's seamen and protected by his seamen 
and marines acting as infantry. To the right of the road, a 
little in advance, was a battery of three 12-pounders, manned 
by the marine corps under Captain Miller, and to the left, 
Peter's battery of artillery with six guns. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Scott with five hundred regulars of the 12th, 36th and 38th 
Regiments, Colonel Brent with the 2nd Regiment of Wash- 
ington militia, and Major Waring with a battalion of Maryland 
militia, were posted in the rear of Peter's battery. To the 
left of them were two rifle companies, under Captains Stull 
and Davidson, posted on an abrupt bluff which commanded 
the road. To the right of the road was Colonel Beall's regi- 
ment of Maryland militia. Altogether General Winder had 
twenty-four guns, and about six thousand five hundred men 
well posted on the heights in front of Bladensburg, when the 
British attacked him. With such a force, in a situation so 



THE CAPTURi: OF WASHINGTON 



347 



admirable for detViicc, it might have been supposed that the 
Americans would have offered a stul)b()rii opposition to the 
advance of the Jiritish against tlieir national capital, especi- 
ally as their jiresident was with them and they were fighting, 
as it were, under the eyes of their countrymen and indeed of 
the whole civilized world. The militia had been told a few 
months before on the floors of Congress by Mr. Wright of 
Maryland, from which state most of them came, that Ameri- 



iv/\r'"'^4. 



BATTLE OF 

BLADENSBURG 




Battle of Bladensburq near Washington 



can valour was superior to Roman valour, this gentleman 
saying, " He hoped whoever should speak hereafter of Roman 
valour on this floor, w^ould be considered as speaking of the 
second degree and not of the first." Under these circum- 
stances nothing less was to be expected than that Bladens- 
burg would be an American Thermopylae, but it proved to 
be only another Battle of Spurs. 



348 THE WAR OF 1812 

The British army, after a toilsome march of fourteen miles 
beneath a hot August sun, reached Blaclensburg at noon. 
Not a moment was lost in making an attack upon the strong- 
ly posted enemy. The British attacking force was in two 
columns, the right consisting of seven hundred and fifty rank 
and file of the 4th and 44th Regiments led by Colonel Brooke 
of the latter, and the left composed of the 85th Regiment 
and the light infantry companies of the army, numbering 
less than eight hundred men, under Colonel Thornton. As 
twelve of the enemy's guns enfiladed the bridge at short range 
both columns suffered severely in crossing, which they gal- 
lantly did under a vigorous fire both from the cannon and 
the riflemen. Once over the river, Colonel Brooke's column 
instantly stormed the six-gun battery, and captured three 
of the 6-pounders which one of the Baltimore artillery com- 
panies had abandoned after one discharge. The entire body 
of riflemen on both flanks of the battery, after firing once or 
twice, fled. Thus was the first line disposed of. Colonel 
Brooke's little column now advanced against the American 
second line, which numbered two thousand four hundred 
men, or more than threefold his force. The regiments of 
Ragan and Schultz, comprising Stansbury's brigade which 
General Smyth declared to be the finest set of men he ever 
saw, immediately became panic stricken, and to quote the 
language of an American historian, "fled in wild confusion." 
Colonel Sterrett's regiment held its ground a minute or two 
longer and then retired in such haste that its retreat, to quote 
again the same author, was soon ''a disorderly flight." It 
is well to have American testimony for this remarkable dis- 
play of American valour. 

Colonel Thornton, in the meantime, had advanced with 
his column directly up the highway against the two guns 
which Colonel Wadsworth had posted on it to check the 
British. The latter, however, advanced so rapidly that the 
gunners had only time to give one discharge, when they also 
disappeared, leaving two 12-pounders in the hands of the 
British. Thornton now crossed the ravine and ascended the 



THE CAPTURE -OF WASHINGTON 349 

opposite bank in the face of a heavy fire from Barney's 18- 
poimders. He tli(Mi turned from the road to the field south 
of it from which Kramer's men had retreated, and deplojTd 
in front of Miller's battery of three 12-pounders. After a 
sharp contest with 'this battery and Barney's flotilla men, 
Thornton's force proceeded to turn the American right by 
a wootls, ami in doing so encountered Colonel Beall's regiment 
which dispersed after a few volleys. By this time Colonel 
Brooke's right column, after scattering their second line, had 
come on the left flank of their third line with such violence 
that the troops there, regulars and militia, instantly broke 
and fled, leaving Barney's left uncovered. This ended the 
contest; Barney's two 18-pounders and Miller's three 12- 
pounders were captured, and both these officers being left 
on the field severely wounded fell into the hands of the 
British. The Americans fled from the field with such alacrity 
that only about one hundred and t wenty prisoners were taken. 
Ten cannon and two hundred and twenty stand of arms w^ere 
captured. The bulk of the American army fled to Mont- 
gomery court-house in Maryland, but a great many of the 
militia never stopped running until they got to the safety of 
their own firesides. The American loss was very small, and, 
in addition to the prisoners taken, amounted to only twenty- 
six killed and fifty-one wounded. The British had sixty-four 
killed and one hundred and eighty-five wounded, the gallant 
Colonel Thornton being among the latter. 

President ]\Iadison did not win undying glory on the field 
of Bladensburg. General Wilkinson, who himself was no 
paladin as his campaigns in Canada show, favours the public 
in his memoirs with a graphic description of the conduct 
and deportment of the chief executive of the United States, 
when brought into actual contact with "grim visaged war" 
itself. "Not all the allurements of fame," says Wilkinson, 
"not all the obligations of duty, nor the solemn invocations 
of honour, could incite a spark of courage ; the love of a life 
which had become useless to mankind, and served but to 
embarrass the public councils, and prejudice the public cause, 



350 THE WAR OF 1812 

stifled the voice of patriotism and prevailed over the love of 
glory; and at the very first shot, the trembling coward with 
a faltering voice exclaimed: 'Come, General Armstrong: 
Come, Colonel Monroe: let us go, and leave it to the com- 
manding general.'" A witty American writer turned this 
little speech into verse, in a neat parody of the words of 
Marmion, thus: — 

" Fly, Monroe, fly ! run Armstrong, run ! 
Were the last words of Madison." 

Madison and his Cabinet not only fled, l3ut they appear, 
as a further precaution, to have distributed themselves pretty 
well over the surrounding country. Two days later the 
president and his attorney-general were at Brookville in 
Maryland; Armstrong and Monroe were at Frederick in the 
same state, and the secretary of the navy was in Loudon 
county, Virginia. 

After the battle of Bladensburg General Ross halted his 
men for rest and refreshment, and then moved forward to- 
wards Washington which was reached about eight o'clock 
the same evening. The troops were drawn up some distance 
from the city while General Ross, Vice-Admiral Cockburn 
and several other officers accompanied by a small guard went 
forward to reconnoitre. They were fired upon from the house 
of one Sewell near the Capitol, and also from the Capitol 
itself, one of the shots killing a soldier and another the horse 
on which General Ross was riding. The light companies 
were at once brought up and the Capitol was taken posses- 
sion of and set on fire. The house from which the shots had 
been fired was also burnt and likewise the building containing 
the treasury and war offices. The only public building left 
standing was the patent office. The Americans had them- 
selves set fire to the Navy Yard and to the frigate Columbia, 
44, and sloop Argus, 18, which were nearly ready for service. 
A prodigious amount of ammunition in the magazines was 
blown up and a vast quantity of stores of every description 
destroyed. On the following day the British completed the 



THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON 351 

work of destruction by burning two rope-walks and such 
stores and buildings in the Navy Yard as had escaped the 
torch the night before. The bridge across the eastern branch 
of the Potomac was also burnt. More than two hundred 
cannon were taken and destroyed, and the public property 
thus lost to the United States government was valued at 
more than $2,000,000. The burning of the public buildings 
was a severe measure but a just one. It was but a proper 
return for the burning of the public buildings of York in the 
spring of 1813. It was in these halls of Congress that the 
Acts had been passed which led to the war. It was in these 
now ruined buildings that the invasion of Canada had been 
sanctioned and her fields, farmhouses and villages given up 
to destruction. It was there the proud boast had been made 
that Canada could be taken without soldiers; it was there 
that hypocritical prayers had been addressed to an all wise 
and all powerful God for His aid in the murder and enslave- 
ment of the people of Canada. And now the prayers had been 
answered to the confusion of those who made them, and 
President Madison and his instruments who had helped to 
complete the infamous bargain which was the price of his 
office, were in cowardly flight. 

The British remained in possession of Washington the 
whole of the twenty-fifth of August, without seeing a sign 
of an enemy, and tliat night withdrew, retiring by Bladens- 
burg to Upper Marlborough. They reached Benedict, fifty 
miles from Washington, on the twenty-ninth without the 
slightest molestation, and on the following day re-embarked 
in the vessels of the fleet. They had good reason to be proud 
of what they had achieved. In the course of ten days they 
had traversed one of the most thickly settled portions of the 
enemy's country for more than one hundred miles. They 
had compelled him to destroy his flotilla; they had defeated 
and dispersed his army; they had occupied his capital and 
given up his public buildings to the flames; they had set the 
rulers of his government skurrying across the country, a 
crowd of unhappy fugitives; and they had returned in safety 



352 



THE WAR OF 1812 



without a hand being raised against them. A cry of rage 
and despair arose from the whole population of the union at 
this unexpected calamity. The people of the seaboard cities 
were in daily expectation of a similar invasion, and for two 
or three months there was little heard around New York, 
Philadelphia, and other cities, but the sound of citizens plying 
the pickaxe and shovel as they raised intrenchments to resist 
the British. It was a sad and humiliating change from the 
condition of this arrogant people at the commencement of 
the war. 

While the British were in possession of Washington, Cap- 




BATTLE OF 

NORTH POINT. 



Battle of North Point, near Baltimore 



tain Gordon was ascending the Potomac to attack Alex- 
andria. He reached Fort Washington on the twenty-seventh 
of August, and as soon as he opened fire upon it, the com- 
mander, Captain Dyson, blew up and abandoned the fort. 
The way was now clear to Alexandria, which Gordon reached 
on the evening of the twenty-eighth. On the following morn- 



THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON 353 

ing its humbled citizens appeared before the British com- 
mander and asked upon what terms he would spare the town. 
The terms were that all the public property should be de- 
livered up, the vessels that had been sunk, raised, and the 
merchandise which had been removed, brought back. The 
loss sustained by the people of Alexandria by the surrender 
of their city consisted of three ships, three brigs, several 
small bay and river craft, sixteen thousand pounds of flour, 
one thousand hogsheads of tobacco, one hundred and fifty 
bales of cotton, and other goods to a large amount. After 
the surrender, Captain Gordon was joined by the Fairy, 18, 
which brought him orders from Vice-Admiral Cochrane to 
return. The river is very difficult to navigate, and the 
Americans made a desperate effort to stop him as he descend- 
ed it. Commodores Rodgers, Perry, Porter and Creighton 
were all engaged in this work. Batteries were erected at 
various points along the banks and fire-ships were employed 
to destroy the British vessels, but these attempts failed and 
Gordon got back in safety to Chesapeake Bay with all his 
vessels, on the third of September, having suffered hardly 
any loss. 

Baltimore was the next place to be attacked and no doubt 
would have easily fallen if assailed immediately after the 
capture of Washington. There was a good deal of delay, 
however, during which the Americans were laboriously pre- 
paring for the defence of the place by erecting earthworks 
and collecting troops. To prevent the British fleet from 
entering the harbour they sank twenty-four vessels in the 
narrow channel between Fort McHenry and Lazaretto Point. 
An extensive system of land fortifications had been con- 
structed and all the works were strongly manned. There 
were about two thousand seamen of the navy in Baltimore 
whose ships had been blockaded there, and by them the bat- 
teries were largely served. In addition to these. General 
Smyth, who had charge of the defences of the city, had more 
than ten thousand land troops, and their number was being 
hourly increased. 



354 THE WAR OF 1812 

Under these circumstances it certainly showed great daring 
on the part of the British to attempt the capture of a city 
so strongly fortified and garrisoned as Baltimore was. How- 
ever the effort was to be made, and on the twelfth of Septem- 
ber, about noon, General Ross and Rear-Admiral Cockburn 
landed at North Point, which is fifteen miles from Baltimore 
by land. The British force consisted of detachments of royal 
and marine artillery, parts of the first battalions of the 4th, 
21st, and 44th Regiments, the 85th Regiment, the first and 
second battalions of marines, detachments of marines from 
the ships, and six hundred seamen, the whole numbering 
about three thousand three hundred rank and file. They 
advanced about three miles to a line of intrenchments which 
had been thrown up by the enemy, but these were imme- 
diately abandoned and the troops continued to move forward. 
A few miles beyond these works, the British general and the 
vice-admiral, who had with them a guard of about sixty men, 
encountered about four hundred of the enemy's riflemen, 
artillery, and cavalry, who had posted themselves at a point 
about eight miles from Baltimore, and a slight skirmish 
ensued. General Ross was in the act of moving alone to- 
wards his supports to order up the light troops when he was 
shot by two riflemen concealed in a hollow at the edge of the 
woods, and in the course of a few minutes breathed his last. 
The heavy loss the army had sustained was not known until, 
on the advance of the light companies, he was found lying 
in the road. 

Colonel Brooke of the 44th Regiment, who now succeeded 
to the command of the army, pressed vigorously forward to 
where the American army under General Strieker was drawn 
up, about seven miles from Baltimore, in order of battle. 
This general had about four thousand five hundred men with 
him and six pieces of artillery, and his position was extremely 
favourable for defence,' covering as it did a narrow front from 
a branch of Bear Creek on his right to a swamp on the margin 
of Back River on his left, and protected by a strong paling 
behind which the troops were formed. An attack was in- 



THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON 355 

staiitly made. The light brigade, coiLsisting of the 85th hght 
infantry, and the hght companies of the army, covered the 
whole of the front, (h'iving in the enemy's skirmishers on his 
main body. The 4th Regiment by a detour gained unper- 
ceived a lodgment close upon the enemy's left. • The re- 
mainder of the right brigade consisting of the 44th Regiment, 
the marines of the fleet and a detachment of seamen, formed 
a line along the enemy's front, while the left brigade consist- 
ing of the 21st Regiment, the second battalion of marines and 
a detachment of marines under Major Lewis remained in 
column on the road, with orders to deploy to the left and 
press the enemy's right the moment the ground became suf- 
ficiently open to admit of that movement. In this order, 
the signal being given, the whole of the troops advanced 
rapidly to the charge. The effect of the flanking movement 
of the 4th Regiment may be briefly described in the language 
of an American historian of the war. This writer says: — 
"The 51st were suddenly struck with dismay and after firing 
a volle}^ at random, broke and fled in wild disorder, producing 
a like effect on the second battalion of the 39th. All efforts 
to rally the fugitives were in vain." The same writer to 
save the honour of his countrymen makes the remainder of 
the American army bravely maintain their position for a time 
and then retreat in good order. "Some of the wounded," 
says he, "and two fieldpieces were abandoned." Colonel 
Brooke does not take quite so many words to describe the 
affair. "In less than fifteen minutes," he writes, "the 
enemy's force being utterly broken and dispersed fled in 
every direction over the country, leaving on the field two 
pieces of cannon, with a consideral^le number of killed, 
wounded and prisoners." Of the latter, about two hundred 
were taken. The Americans according to their own account 
had but twenty-four killed and one hundred and twenty-nine 
wounded. The total British loss on shore amounted to forty- 
six killed and two hundred and seventy-three wounded. 

The British troojis being much fatigued, this being their 
first march after disembarkation, Colonel Brooke halted his 



356 THE WAR OF 1812 

army for the night on the ground that had been occupied 
by the enemy, and early next morning, the thirteenth, ad- 
vanced to within a mile and a half of Baltimore. From this 
point it was proposed to make a night attack upon the 
enemy's works. During that day the sea defences of Balti- 
more were bombarded by the British fleet, but as, owing 
to the shallowness of the water and the obstruction caused 
by the vessels that had been sunk in the narrow channel, the 
heavy ships could not approach nearer the fort than two 
miles and a half, very little damage was done, beyond dis- 
mounting one 24-pounder in Fort McHenry. Vice-Admira] 
Cochrane communicated to Colonel Brooke the information 
that, as the entrance to the harbour was obstructed by a 
barrier of vessels, the cooperation of the fleet in an attack 
on Baltimore would be impracticable, and consequently it 
was agreed to abandon the enterprise on the ground that the 
capture of the town would not be a sufficient equivalent 
for the loss which would probably be sustained in storming 
the heights. The army re-embarked at North Point on 
the fifteenth leaving not a man behind, and without the 
slightest molestation from the enemy, who were too much 
cowed by the result of the battle to leave their intrench- 
ments. 

The attack upon and capture of Castine and the territory 
about the Penobscot River, took place between the occu- 
pation of Washington and the attempt upon Baltimore. 
The expedition which was under the command of Sir John 
Cope Sherbrooke, governor of Nova Scotia, sailed from 
Halifax the last week in August. It consisted of the Dragon, 
74, the frigates Endymion and Bacchante, and the sloop Sylph, 
with ten transports having on board a company of artillery, 
two companies of the 60th, and the 29th, 62nd and 98th 
Regiments, in all less than one thousand eight hundred rank 
and file. They reached the Penobscot on the thirty-first 
and were there joined by the Bulwark, 74, and four other 
ships of war. On the following day they appeared before 
the fort at Castine which was immediately blown up by its 



THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON M57 

commander, the garrison escaping iij) I he river. The Ameri- 
can corvette Ada?7is, 28, had just returned from a cruise and 
was up the Penobscot. Arraiio;ements were at once made 
for her destruction. This work was entrusted to Captain 
Barrie of the Dragon, and Lieutenant-Colonel John, who 
commanded the land forces detailed for the work. The 
latter consisted of six hundred men, comprising the flank 
companies of the 29th, 62nd and 98th Regiments, and one 
company of the 60th, besides a few artillerymen. They 
were embarked in four small vessels and several barges. 
Captain Morris of the Adams had made preparations to de- 
fend his vessel and stop the advance of the British by placing 
the heavy guns on a high bank of Soadabscook Creek, near 
Hampden, so as to command the liver approaches from 
below. General Blake called out the militia and about six 
hundred of them were assembled at Hampden on the second 
of September, in addition to the crew of the Adams numbering 
two hundred and twenty, and about forty regulars who had 
escaped from Castine. This force on the morning of the 
third was attacked by the little British detachment and 
almost instantly dispersed. The militia of Maine fled without 
firing a shot, and regulars and seamen spee^lily followed 
their example. The British captured about eighty prisoners, 
as many as they could overtake, and they also took tv;enty- 
five pieces of cannon. Pushing on to Bangor they occupied 
that place, and accepted the surrender of General Blake and 
one hundred and ninety of his men. They took here two 
brass cannon, three stand of colours and other spoil. The 
Adams and two other ships, one of them armed, were des- 
troyed by the enemy. Six vessels were burnt at Bangor 
and twelve were brought away. Altogether thirty-nine can- 
non, most of them of heavy calibre, were taken at Castine, 
Hampden and Bangor in addition to small arms and a large 
quantity of stores and anununition. The British relniilt 
and garrisoned the fort at Castine, and it reinaiiiiMl in their 
possession to the end of the war. 

On the ninth of September, Lieutenant-Colonel Pilkington 



358 THE WAR OF 1812 

was sent with a small force to effect the capture of Machias, 
the naval part of the expedition being under the command 
of Captain Hyde Parker. The British disembarked at 
Buck's Harbour, and after a difficult night-march reached the 
rear of Fort O'Brien at daybreak on the tenth. The gar- 
rison, which consisted of seventy regulars and thirty militia, 
instantly evacuated the fort and escaped into the woods, 
leaving their colours behind them. Machias, East Machias", 
and the Point battery were occupied the same day, and 
altogether twenty-six pieces of ordnance were taken, besides 
one hundred and sixty stand of small arms and a quantity 
of ammunition. The militia of Washington county agreed 
not to bear arms during the war, and hostilities ceased. The 
result of these operations was that the whole of eastern Maine 
from the Penobscot to the New Brunswick boundary passed 
under British rule. 

The only other operation of the war that remains to be 
mentioned is the expedition for the capture of New Orleans. 
A full description of this unfortunate affair is without the 
scope of this history. It was an enterprise which had no 
connection with the defence of Canada, either directly or 
indirectly, and the causes which set it on foot were quite 
apart from the other circumstances of the war. Undertaken 
on imperfect and erroneous information, with an entire 
ignorance of the difficulties natural and artificial that had 
to be overcome, and with inadequate means, success was 
rendered impossible by the numerous delays which retarded 
the British advance, and in the final battle the soldiers of the 
British army were simply led up to be slaughtered by rifle- 
men who could not be reached because no sufficient means 
of scaling the works which protected them were at hand. 
On this point we have the evidence of Major Latour, the 
engineer officer who constructed the works for General 
Jackson, who says that the attack must have been deter 
mined on by the British generals "without any considera- 
tion of the ground, the weather, or the difficulties to be sur 
mounted before they could storm lines defended by militia, 



THE CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON 359 

indeed, but by militia whose valour they had already wit- 
nessed, by soldiers, bending under the weight of their loads, 
when a man unencumbeietl woukl that day have fountl it 
difficult to mount our breastworks at leisure and with cir- 
cumspection, so extremely slippery was the soil." It was 
quite natural that Major Latour should desire to exalt the 
valour of the militia who defended the breastworks at New 
Orleans, but it was not put to the test, for the entire loss they 
suffered was only six killed and seven wounded, so well were 
they protected, while the British loss was about two thousand. 
But if any American is disposed to think that the battle was 
won by the superior valour of his countrymen he need go 
no further than the report of General Jackson himself, to be- 
come disabused of this idea. For while the British were 
being led up to slaughter on one side of the river, they were 
victorious on the other. And to quote the very words of the 
American general : " Simultaneously with his advance on my 
lines he had thrown over in his boats a considerable force to 
the other side of the river. These having landed, were hardy 
enough to advance against the works of General Morgan, 
and what is strange and difficult to account for, the very 
moment when their entire discomfiture was looked for with 
a confidence approaching to certainty, the Kentucky rein- 
forcements in which so much reliance had been placed, 
ingloriously fled, drawing after them by their example the 
remainder of the forces and thus yielding to the enemy that 
most formidable position." 

Before the battle of New Orleans was fought, a treaty of 
peace had been signed at Ghent by the British plenipoten- 
tiaries and those of the United States. One of the latter 
was Henry Clay, who in a speech advocating the war had said 
of the British: "We must take the continent from them, 
I wish never to see a peace till we do." Yet this blustering 
demagogue, who had done so much to bring about a wholly 
unnecessary war, was glad enough to go to Europe, 
and to spend the better part of a year in begging a peace 
which had become absolutely necessary unless the United 



360 THE WAR OF 1812 

States were to be wholly ruined and the union dissolved. 
The war had been undertaken by the United States osten- 
sibly on account of the British refusing to yield the right of 
search and the impressment of seamen. In the instructions 
given to Clay and Russell in February, 1814, when leaving 
for Europe as peace plenipotentiaries, they were told to insist 
on the right of search and of impressment being abandoned 
by the British. "Our flag," said the instructions, "must 
protect the crew, or the United States cannot consider them- 
selves an independent nation." The British plenipoten- 
tiaries wholly refused to yield to this demand, and the osten- 
sible cause of the war was never mentioned at all in the treaty 
of peace. Yet, so weary were the people of the United States 
of the contest, so great was their joy at the return of peace, 
that the terms upon which it was made, so far from being 
criticized, were not even considered, — it was enough for them 
that the war was ended. 



INDEX 



Adams, Ainorican corvrtte, des- 
troyed, 357 

Acts, Non-Importation, 9; Embar- 
go, 11, 17, 19, 240; Non-Inter- 
course, 12 

Adams, John Quiricy, 241 

Alexandria, occupied by British, 
353 

Allan, Major William, of the 3rd 
York Militia, 141 

Allen, Colonel, of the Kentucky 
Rifle Regiment, 115, 119 

Allen, Lieutenant William Henry, 
commander of the Argus, 238 

Angus, Lieutenant, (U.S.), 91 

Applegarth, Captain, of the 5th 
Regiment of Lincoln Militia, 78 

Argus, U.S. brig, captured by the 
Pelican, 238 

Armistice, an, proposed, 07; con- 
cluded, 68; another proposed, 85 ; 
concluded, 88, 102 

Armstrong, John, American secre- 
tary of war, 127; his plans of 
invasion, 130; establishes his de- 
partment at Sacketts Harbour, 
203; sanctions the burning of 
Newark, 226, 308; at Bladens- 
burg, 344, 345 

Astor, John Jacob, 32 

Atkinson, Colonel, General Hamp- 
ton's inspector general, 219, 246 

Aux Canards, skirmish at, 50 

B 

Bailey, Captain, of the 1st Royal 
Scots, 229 



Baltimore, 353; British advance on, 
354; American defeat near, 355; 
bombardment, 356 

Bangor, captured by British, 358 

Barclay, Captain R. H., of the 
Royal Navy, British commander 
on Lake Erie, 183; his fatal ne- 
glect, 184; his fleet defeated and 
taken, 192 

Bartley, Lieutenant, of the 49th, 
90,93 

Barnes, Captain, of the S9th, 216, 
218 

Barney, Commodore, 7; his flotilla 
blown up, 343; at Bladensburg, 
346; captured by the British, 349 

Barrie, Captain, of the Dragon, 357 

Basden, Captain, of the 89th, at- 
tacks the Americans at Twenty 
Mile Creek, 244-5 

Battersby, Lieutenant-Colonel, of 
the Glengarry Light Infantry, 
273, 332 

Bayard, James, envoy extraordi- 
nary, 241 

Baynes, Adjutant-General, 68 

Beall, Colonel, Maryland militia, 
346, 347 

Beaver Dam, 150, 158. 167. 168 

Belvidera, British frigate, escape of, 
106-7 

Berkeley, Vice-Admiral, 10 

Biddle's Battery, 266 

Bignall, Lieutenant, 192 

Big Sandy Creek, British defeat at, 
257-8 

Bingham, Captain, A. B. of the 
Little Belt, 14 



362 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Birdsall, Captain, 297, 298 

Bisshopp, Lieutenant-Colonel, com- 
mands all the troops from Fort 
Erie to Chippawa, 90; arrives at 
Fort Erie with reinforcements, 
94 ; messengers sent to, 150; 
reaches Forty Mile Creek, 166; 
leads the attack on Black Rock, 
171; his death, 172 

Bissel, General, 246, 248, 335 

Black Rock, American batteries at, 
171, 292 

Bladensburjr, 344; battle of, 348 ; 
American defeat at, 350 

Blake, Captain, of the 13th, 248, 
249 

Blake, General, (U.S.), 358 

Bloomfield, Brigadier-General, col- 
lects a large army at Plattsburg, 
102 

Blyth, Captain, of the Boxer, 238, 
239 

Boerstler, Lieutenant-Colonel, of 
the 14th U.S. infantry, under- 
takes to destroy the bridge over 
Frenchman's Creek, 91, 93; sent 
to capture Beaver Dam, 167; 
surrenders, 168 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, First Consul, 
7; issues BerHn decree, 8; his 
Milan decree, 9, 12, 13; his disas- 
ters in Russia, 128, 241, 286, 314 

Bostwick, Lieutenant-Colonel, of 
the Norfolk militia, 90, 93, 95 

Boxer, British brig, captured by the 
Enterprise, 238 

Boyce, Lieutenant, commander of 
the Nautilus, 340 

Boyd, General, (U.S. army), 145, 
148, 163, 179, 215, 219 

Brant, John, Indian chief, 167 

Brisbane, Major-General, to invade 
New York, 315, 316, 327 



Brock, Sir Isaac, president of Upper 
Canada, 26; informed of the 
declaration of war, 32; at York, 
36; his proclamation, 44-6; has- 
tens reinforcements to the De- 
troit frontier, 57; demands the 
surrender of Hull's army, 58; 
attacks Detroit, 60; captures the 
fort and Hull's army, 62; at the 
battle of Queenston Heights, 76; 
his death, 77, 82; his monument, 
84 

Brockville, American raid on, 131 

Brooke, Captain of the Shannon,. 
235, 236 

Brooke, Colonel, of the 44th, de- 
feats Americans at Bladensburg, 
348; leads the advance on Balti- 
more, 354-6 

Brown, General, holds the U.S. fort 
at Ogdensburg, 103; on the march 
to Montreal, 214, 215; near Corn- 
wall, 219; at Sacketts Harbour, 
251 ; attacks and captures Fort 
Erie, 259-61; defeats British at 
Chippawa, 267; writes to Chaun- 
cey, 271; moves towards Fort 
George, 273; his defeat at the 
battle of Lundy's Lane, 276-84; 
his report, 286-9; retires to Fort 
Erie 291 ; at Fort Erie, 330 

Brownstown, American defeat at, 
53 

Brush, Captain, of the Ohio volun- 
teers, 53; shameful conduct, 62 

Bruy^^re, Captain, 209 

Buchan, Lieutenant, of the Ladxf 
Prevost, 191, 192 

Buck, Major, surrenders Fort Erie^ 
261 

Buffalo, occupied by the British, 
232 

Bullock, Captain, of the 41st, 70, 
78, 124 



INDEX 



363 



Burrows, Lieutenant William, of 

the Enterprise, 238, 239 
Butler, Lieutciiatit-ColoiH'l, (U.S.), 

244 
Byron, Captain Richard, of the 

Belvidera, lOG 

C 

Calhoun, John C, 14 

Cameron, Captain, 7cS 

Campbell, Colonel, of the lOth U.S. 
infantry, his vandalism, 306-8 

Canada, its defenceless condition, 
20; meetings of the legislature, 
24, 47 

Canadian Fenfil)l("s, the, 22, 35, 100 

Cartwright, Captain, of the Cana- 
dian Fencihles, 249 

Cass, Colonel I^ewis, of the 3rd 
Ohio Regiment, 30, 50, 60, 63 

Castine, Fort, occupied by British, 
356 

Caswick, Lieutenant, of the Hoyal 
Na\y, 251 

Chambers, Captain, of the 41st, 52 

Champlain, Lake, Colonel Murray's 
operations there, 175 

Chandler, General, 145; at the battle 
of Stoney Creek, 1.59; captured, 
160 

Channing, Rev. William Ellery, 24 

Chapin, Colonel, 231 

Chateauguay, battle of, 206-10 

Chatham, Lord, 170 

Chauncey, Commodore, of the U.S. 
navy, 99; at Sacketts Harbour, 
136; at Four .Mile Creek, 145; at 
Burlington Heights, 172-3; raids 
Fort York, 173; his vessels on 
Lake Ontario, 177; defeated by 
Yeo, 178; captures five small 
vessels, 179; imdertakes to block- 
ade the British in Kingston har- 
bour, 211; still at Sacketts Har- 



bour, 260; his reply to lirown's 
appeal, 272; his operations on 
Lake Ontario, 311 
Cherub, British sloop, 337 
Chesapeake, U.S. warship, attacked 
by British ship Leopard, 10; cap- 
tured by Shannon, 235-6 
Chewett, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 

3rd York militia, 141 
Chippawa. 70; battle of, 264-8 
Chippcira, captured by the .A.meri- 

cans, 192 
Chrystie, LieutCTiant-Colonel, 75 
Chrystler's Field, battle of, 215-20 
Chrystler, John, 215 
Church, Adjutant D. W\, 102 
Churchill, Lieutenant-Colonel, (U. 

S.), 231 
Clark, Colonel, (U.S.), 249 
Clark, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas, 
of the 2nd Lincoln militia, 32, 94, 
143, 168, 171 
Clay, General Green, of Kentucky, 
at the attack on Fort Meigs, 
121-5 
Clay, Henry, 14, 19, 121, 241, 360, 

392 
Cochrane, Vice-Admiral, 308, 343- 

353 
Cockburn, Vice-Admiral, blockades 
coast of United States, 234; in 
Chesapeake Bay, 343, 344; at 
Washington, 350; lands at North 
Point to attempt the capture of 
Baltimore, 354; abandons the en- 
terprise, 356 
Coffin, Lieutenant-General John, 
colonel of the New Brunswick 
Fencibles, 243 
Congress of United States, 14; de- 
clares war against Great Britain, 
19 
Conkling, Lieutenant, of the Ohio, 
294 



364 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Constitution captures the British 

ships Guerrih-e, 107, 108: Java, 

109, 110; Cyane and Levant, 339 

"Corps of Observation," 213, 216, 

219 
Cotgreave, Colonel, of the Ohio 

volunteers, 301 
Covington, General, (U.S.), 217, 

218 
Crawford, Major, 303, 304 
Creighton, Commodore, 353 
Croghan, Lieutenant-Colonel, at 
Fort Stephenson, 181; attempts 
to capture Mackinac, 301-4 
Cummings, Colonel, (U.S.), 246 
Cuyahoga, schooner, captured by 
British, 33 

D 

Daschkoff, M., 241 
Dearborn, Major-General, 23; signs 
an armistice, 28, 68; commander- 
in-chief of the U.S. armies, 66; 
invades Canada, 100; advances 
to Odelltown, 104; at Sacketts 
Harbour, 131, 136; captures 
York, 142; encamps at Four Mile 
Creek, 145; occupies Fort George, 
151; recalled, 169 
De Bersey, Captain, of De Watte- 

ville's Regiment, 255 
Decatur, Captain, of the President, 

339 
De Haren, Major, of the 8th, 168 
De Meuron's Regiment, 242 
Denman, Captain, (U.S.), 274 
Dennis, Captain, of the 49th, 70, '77 
Denny, Major, of the 1st Ohio 

Regiinent, 52, 57 
De Rottenburg, Major-General, suc- 
ceeds General Sheaffe, 144, 179 
leaves for Kingston, 203, 221 
his district general order, 224 
relieved of the presidency and 



military command in Upper Can- 
ada, 228; commands a division 
for the invasion of New York, 315 

De Salaberry, Lieutenant-Colonel, 
of the 60th Regiment, 26; on the 
frontier of Lower Canada, 100, 
104; defeats the Americans in the 
battle of Chateauguay, 204-10 

Detroit, Fort, 38; its surrender de- 
manded by Brock, 58; the fort 
attacked, 60; its capitulation, 
61-2 

De Watteville's Regiment, 179, 242 
255, 275, 291, 295, 330, 332 

Dixon, Captain, of the Royal En- 
gineers, 58, 182 

Dobbs, Captain, of the Charwell, 293 

Dorchester, Lord, 33 

Dover, burnt by Americans, 306, 
307 

Downie, Captain, commands the 
British flotilla on Lake Cham- 
plain, 318; his fatal naval en- 
gagement before Plattsburg, 
318-24; Sir James Yeo's comment 
upon his action, 326 

Drummond, Lieutenant-General Sir 
George, president and military 
commander in Upper Canada, 
228; headquarters at Sacketts 
Harbour, 231; extends his pro- 
tection on the Niagara frontier, 
244; at the battle of Lundy's 
Lane, 276-84; attacks Fort Erie, 
294; continues the siege, 329; 
abandons it and returns to Chip- 
pawa, 334 

Drummond, Lieutenaiit-Colonel, at 
Sacketts Harbour, 155, 156; 
leads part of the 104th at Lundy's 
Lane, 273; killed at Fort Erie, 
297 

Duchesnay, Captain Jean Baptiste, 
of the voltigeurs, 208 



INDEX 



365 



Duchesnay, Captain Juchcreau, of 

the voUigeurs, 209 
Dudley, Colonel, (U.S.), 123-4 
Dyson, Captain, blows up and 

abandon.s Fort Washington, 352 

E 

Earle, Commodore, 98 

p]astport, or Moose Island, captured 
by the British, 341 

EUard, Captain of the 13th, 249 

Elliott, Lieutenant, of the U.S. 
navy, captures the Caledonia and 
Detroit, 72, 73 

EUiott, Captain, 62, 228 

Elliott, Colonel, 60, 244 

Enterprise, U.S. brig, captures 
Boxer, 238, 239 

Erie, Fort, captured by Americans, 
261; the Americans beseiged in, 
291; its defences, 294, 295; as- 
saulted by British, 295, 296, 297; 
British losses at, 299; sortie from, 
331, 332; siege abandoned, 334; 
blown up, 336 

Erie, Lake, battle of, 183-94 

Essex, U.S. frigate, 337; captured, 
338 

Eustis, Dr., U.S. War Secretary, 
15, 23, 26, 66, 68, 125; resigns, 
127 

Evans, Major, of the 8th, 270, 296 

Everard, Captain, of the 
175 



Finnis, Captain R. A. of the Queen 

Charlotte, 190, 192 
Fischer, Lieutenant-Colonel, of De 

Watteville's Regiment, 253, 255, 

295, 296 
Fitz Gibbon, Lieutenant, of the 49th, 

168 
Forsyth, Lieutenant-Colonel, (U.S.) 

102. 131, 133, 135, 249, 313 



Fra.ser, Sergeant William, of the 
49th, captures General Winder, 
160 

French Mills attacked, 103 

Frenchtown, battle of, 116-18 

Frolic, British brig, captured by the 
Wasp, 110 

Gaines, General, (U.S.), 252; at 
Sacketts Harbour, 273; at Fort 
Erie, 292; his account of the at- 
tack on Fort Erie, 299, 300 

Gallatin, Albert, American secre- 
tary of the treasurj^ 33, 241 

Gananoque, American attack on 
102 

Gardner, Adjutant-General, 272 

Garland, Lieutenant, of the De- 
troit, 191, 192 

Genet, "Citizen," French Minister 
to U.S., 2; fits out privateers, 3; 
dismissed, 3 

George, Fort, its attack and cap- 
ture by the Americans, 145-51 ; 
abandoned, 227 

Ghent, Treaty of, 359 

Glegg, Captain, sent by Brock to 
demand the surrender of Detroit, 
58 

Glengarry Fencibles, 22, 35, 36, 
104, 129, 152, 332, 335 

Gordon, Captain, of the Seahorse^ 
his operations on the Potomac, 
343, 352. 353 

Guerriere, British frigate, captured 
by the Constitution, 107, 108 

H 

Hall, Major-General Amos, (U.S.), 

231.232 
Hamilton, Captain, of the 2nd 

Lincoln Regiment, 70, 78, 94, 

122, 123 

Hamilton. Lieutenant-Colonel of 
the inoth, 229, 282 



366 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Hampton, General Wade, 17Q; at 
Burlington, 176; commands the 
Lake Champlain army, 202; ad- 
vances into Canada by way of the 
Chateauguay River, 204; en- 
camped at Spear's, 206; defeated 
at Chateauguay, 210; declines to 
join Wilkinson at St. Regis, 219 

Handcock, Major, of the 13th, 248, 
249, 250 

Hanks, Lieutenant, (U.S.), 61 

Hardy, Captain Sir Thomas, 341 

Harris, Mrs. Amelia, 307 

Harrison, General, commander-in- 
chief of the Kentucky forces, 114; 
headquarters at Sandusky, 115; 
retires to the Miami and estab- 
lishes Fort Meigs, 121; his boast- 
ing address, 123; defends the 
fort, 121-4; his headquarters near 
Fort Stephenson, 181; enters 
Sandwich, pursues Procter up 
the Thames, 195; the encounter? 
196-8; his victory, 199; burns 
Moravian Town, 200; leaves for 
Buffalo, 201 

Harvey, Lieutenant-Colonel, (after- 
wards Sir John) at Stoney Creek, 
160-3; 173 

Heathcote, Major, of the 49th, 102 

Hewett, Lieutenant, of the marines, 
256 

Hicks, Lieutenant, of the Royal 
Navy, 251 

Hillyar, Captain, of the Phoebe, 337, 
338 

Hindman, Major, (U.S.), 260, 266, 
297 

Holcroft, Captain, of the car bri- 
gade, 36 

Holmes, Major, of the U.S. 32nd 
Regiment, 302, 304 



Hornet, U.S. corvette, captures 
Peacock, 236; captures Penguin, 
340 

Hull, Brigadier-General, 23; takes 
command on May 25th, 1812, 28; 
his complimentary order, 30 ; 
marches his army towards the 
Detroit frontier, 31; occupies 
Fort Detroit, 38; invades Canada, 
40; his proclamation, 42, 43 ; 
abandons Canada, 54; surrenders, 
61, 62; sent to Quebec, 63; tried 
by court-martial, 65 

Humphreys, Captain, of the Leo- 
pard, 10 

I 

Impressment of seamen on Ameri- 
can ships, 4, 9, 10 

Izard, General, (U.S.), 208, 313, 
315, 334, 335, 336 



Jackson, General Andrew, 359, 360 

Java, British frigate, captured by 
the Constitution, 109 

Jay Treaty, 5, 6, 10 

Jefferson, Thomas, his hostility to 
Great Britain, 2 ; suppresses 
Monroe and Pinkney's Treaty, 10 

Jessop, Major, of the 25th, 265, 280 

K 

Kerr, Ensign, of the Newfound- 
land Regiment, 117 

King, Captain, of the 15th Infantry, 
91,92 

King, Major, (U.S.) 139 

Kirby, Captain, 90, 228 

Kramer, Colonel, 346, 349 



La CoUe, skirmish at, 104-6 ; 

Wilkinson's defeat at, 245-51 
Lamont, Lieutenant, of the 49th, 

90, 91, 92 



INDEX 



367 



Laurie, Lieutenant, of the marines, 
256 

Lawrence, Captain, of the Chesa- 
peake, 236 

Lee, General Henry, injured in a 
riot, 20 

Lethl)ri(lge, Colonel, 103 

Lewis, Colonel, (U.S.) 115 

Lewis, General Morgan, 145, 148, 
163 

Lewis, Major, 355 

Lingan, General, killed in a riot, 20 

Lisle, Major, of the 19th Dragoons, 
273 

Little Belt, British corvette, en- 
coimters the President, 14; cap- 
tured l)y Americans, 192 

Liverpool, Lord, 36 

Loring, Captain, General Riall's 
aide, 281 

Ludlow, Lieutenant, 236 

Lundy's Lane, battle of, 278-90 

Lush, Judge Advocate, 76 

M 

Mc Arthur, Colonel Duncan, of the 
1st Ohio Regiment, plunders Mo- 
ravian Town, 51; plans to take 
Maiden, 51, 52; joins Miller, 56; 
al)sent from Fort Detroit, 60; in- 
cluded in the surrender, 62; at 
Fort Stephenson, 181; his raid 
from Detroit, 309, 310 

McCally, Sailing-Master, 294 

McClure, Brigadier-General, (U. S.) 
139; in command at Fort George, 
221 ; his raiding parties, 222, 223; 
burns Newark, 227, 308; aban- 
dons Fort George, 227 

McCullough, Captain William, (U.S.) 
50, 51, 52, 54 

McDouall, Lieutenant-Colonel, in 
command at Mackinac, 300, 303, 
304 



McFarland, Major, of the 23rd U.S. 
infantry, 270 

Mclntyre, Lieutenant, of the 41st, 
80, 90, 182 

McKay, Colonel, of the .Michigan 
Fencibles, 301, 303 

McMillan, Captain, of the Glengarry 
Light InfantrJ^ 253, 255 

McMillan, Lieutenant-Colonel, 103 

Macdonell, Lieutenant-Colonel, sent 
by Brock to demand the surren- 
der of Detroit, 58; sent to arrange 
the terms of capitulation, 58, 61 ; 
killed at Queenston, 77; praised 
by General Sheaffe, 82 

Macdonell. Lieutenant-Colonel (i, of 
the Glengarries, his demonstra- 
tion before, his attack and cap- 
ture of Ogdensburg, 131-35; at 
the battle of Chateauguay, 209 

Macdonough, Commodore, at Bur- 
lington, 176; at Otter Creek, 313; 
his victory at Plattsburg, 319-26 

Macedonian, British frigate, cap- 
tured by the United States, 109 

Mackinac, Fort, captured by Bri- 
tish, 34, 35; American unsuccess- 
ful attempt on, 303, 304 

Macleane, D., Clerk of Upper 
Canada Assembly, killed at York , 
142 

Macomb, General .AJexander, (U.S.) 
212, 246, 249, 316, 328 

Madison, President, his warlike 
message, 14; coerced l)y the poli- 
ticians. 17; at Hull's court-mar- 
tial, 65; appoints commissioners 
to treat for peace, 241 ; his 
timidity, 342; in Washington, 
344, 345; his flight from Bladens- 
burg, 349-51 

Maguaga, American defeat at, 55-7 

Mailloux, Captain, 313, 314 



368 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Malcolm, Lieutenant-Colonel, of the 
marines, 253, 255 

Maiden, Fort, 40 

Mallory, Major, 230 

Maule, Major, of the 104th, 172 

Medcalf, Lieutenant, 233, 234 

Meigs, Governor of Ohio, 28, 30 

Meigs, Fort, attacked, 122; Ameri- 
cans defeated at, 124; siege aban- 
doned, 125 

Merritt, Captain, W. H., of the Nia- 
gara Dragoons, 150 

Merritt, Major Thomas, of the Nia- 
gara Dragoons, 78 

Militia, Canadian and American, 
opposite Detroit, 40; at Maguaga, 
55, losses, 57; at Detroit, 60; at 
Queenston, 75, 77, losses, 82; on 
the Niagara frontier, 90, losses, 
95; at Frenchtown, 115, losses, 
117; at Fort Meigs, 121, losses, 
124; at Ogdensburg, 133; at Sac- 
ketts Harbour, 136; at York, 138; 
at Fort George, 145,146; at Schlos- 
ser, 171; at Black Rock, 171; at 
Grenadier Island, 204; at Chateau- 
guay, 206; at Kingston, 213; at 
Fort Niagara, 228, losses, 229; 
at Chippawa, 262, losses, 267; 
at Lundy's Lane, 275, 276, losses, 
284, 285 

Miller, Lieutenant-Colonel James, 
of the 4th U.S. infantry, 30, 31, 
55, 86, 123, 124, 163, 246. 247, 
260, 281, 282, 331, 332 

Mitchell, Lieutenant-Colonel, 254, 
256 

Monroe, James, secretary of state, 
10, 308, 344, 345, 348 

Mooers, General, 176, 316 

Morgan, Major, (U.S.), 292, 293 

Morrison, Lieutenant-Colonel J. W., 
of the 89th, in command of the 



"Corps of Observation," 213, 
216, 217, 219, 275 

Muir, Captain, of the 41st, 55, 57, 
113, 125, 182 

Mulcaster, Captain, of the marines, 
214, 256 

Murray, Colonel, 174, 175, 226, 
228; captures Fort Niagara, 229 

Myers, Colonel, acting quarter- 
master-general, 149, 335 

N 

Newark, (Niagara), 70, 88, 148, 

burnt by Americans, 226-8 
New Orleans, British defeat at, 358 
Newfoundland Regiment, 22, 60, 

116, 133, 148 
New Brunswick Regiment (104th), 

129, 167, 172 
Niagara frontier, 68, 85, 96, 145, 

221, 226 
Niagara, Fort, captured by British, 

228-30 
Nichol, Lieutenant-Colonel, 293 
Nicholas, Colonel of the 1st U.S. 

infantry, 281 

O 

Ogdensburg. 103; captured by 

British, 135 
Ogilvie, Major, of the 8th, 160, 162 
Ohio, U.S. schooner, captured by 

the British, 292-4 
Ontario, Lake, naval operations on, 

98, 99, 172, 173, 176, 177, 178 
Orders-in-council, 3, 8; revoked, 13 
Ormsby, Major, of the 49th, in 

command at Fort Eire, 90-3, 150 
Oswego, attacked and captured by 

the British, 253-7 



Parker, Captain Hyde, 358 
Parry, Lieutenant-Colonel, of the 
103rd, 273 



INDEX 



369 



Peacock, British brig, captured by 
Hornet, 236 

Peacock, U.S. corvette, captures the 
Epervier, 338; attacks the Nauti- 
lus, 340 

Pearson, Lieutenant-Colonel, of the 
100th, 216, 218, 262, 273, 278 

Pelican, British brig, captures Uw 
Argus, 238 

Penobscot, river, British on the, 
356 

Perry, Captain O. H., of the U.S. 
navy, 183; wrests the command 
of Lake Erie from the British, 
185-94 

Phoebe, British frigate, captures 
Essex, 337, 338 

Pike, Colonel Z. M., commands 
U.S. troops at La Colle, 104, 105; 
at York, 139; killed, 141 

Pilkington, Lieutenant-Colonel, of 
H.M.S. liamillies, 341; occupies 
Machias, 358 

Plattsburg, captured l\v Colonel 
Murray, 175; British advance on, 
316; battle of, 324-7 

Plenderleath, Lieutenant-Colonel, of 
the 49th, 150, 160, 162 

Porter, Captain David, of the Es- 
sex, 337, 353 

Porter, General Peter B., of the New 
York volunteers, 88, 260, 264, 
265, 272, 280, 330, 331, 332 

Powell, Captain, of the Glengarry 
Regiment, 78, 296 

Power, General, 315, 316 

Prairie du Chien, 300; captured by 
British, 301 

President, U.S. frigate, attacks 
Little Belt, 13, 14; captured by 
the British, 3.39 

Prevost, Sir George, governor-gen- 
eral of Canada, 24; increases the 
Canadian regiments, 35, 36; pro- 



poses an armistice, 67; his timid- 
ity, 132; at Sacketts Harbour, 
152-6; orders disobeyed, 222; 
serious mistakes, 313, 314; at 
Plattsburg, 315-18; his despatch, 
326; his disgraceful retreat, 327, 
328; retires to Montreal, 329, 336 

Pring, Captain R. X., 250, 313, 325 

Procter, ( Jeneral, assumes command 
at Amherstburg, 46; takes com- 
mand on the Detroit frontier, 52, 
53; instructions from Sir George 
Prevost, 113; defeats Winchester, 
117; at Fort Meigs, 121-6; at- 
tacks Fort Stephenson, 180-2; 
pursued by Harrison, 195; de- 
feated, 199; censured, 200 

Procter, Major, of the 82nd, 332, 
333 

Purdy, Colonel, of the 4th U.S. 
infantry, 206, 208 

Putnam, Major, (U.S.), 341 

Q 
Queenston Heights, battle of, 70-84 
Quincy, Josiah, 14, 127 

R 

Radcliffe, Lieutenant, of the Net- 
ley, 293, 294 

Regiments in Canada when war was 
declared, 22; in 1814, 242-3. See 
also Militia 

Reynolds, Major, of the Essex 
militia, 115, 119 

Riall. Major-General, reaches the 
Xiagara frontier, 228; captures 
Lewiston. 230, 231; at Black 
Rock, 232; burns Buffalo and 
Black Rock, 233; a description 
of, 261; defeated at Chippawa, 
262-7; retires to Queenston, 273; 
at Lundj^'s Lane, 278-80; taken 
prisoner, 281 



370 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Ripley, General, 260, 261, 264, 265, 
266, 272, 275, 286, 288, 291, 292, 
331 

Roberts, Captain, in command of 
the British post on the island of 
St. Joseph, 33; captures Fort 
Mackinac, 34 

Robinson, General, 315, 316, 326, 
327 

Robinson, Lieutenant-Colonel, 273, 
284 

Rodgers, Commodore, of the U.S. 
navy, 13, 106, 353 

Rolette, Lieutenant, 52, 57, 103, 192 

Ross, Major-General, 343, 345; oc- 
cupies Washington, 350; killed, 
354 

Rowe, Captain, of the 2nd Lincoln 
militia, 70, 78, 267 

Russell, Jonathan, peace commis- 
sioner, 241 

Ryerson, Lieutenant, 95, 224 

S 

St. Clair, Commander, 302-5 

St. Davids, village, 179; burnt by 

Americans, 270 
St. George, Colonel, commands the 

British forces at Fort Maiden, 32, 

40, 50 
St. Regis, surprised, 103 
Sacketts Harbour, British attack 

on, 152 
Sault Ste. Marie, American depre- 
dations at, 302 
Saunders, Captain, of the 41st, 90, 

94, 172 
Sehlosser, Fort, Lieutenant-Colonel 

Clark's attack on, 171 
Scorpion, U.S. schooner, captured 

by the British, 305-6 
Scott, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 

103rd, 295, 308, 346 



Scott, Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield, 
82, 148, 173, 251, 260, 261, 262, 
264, 266, 272, 273, 276, 282, 284 

Secord, Major David, 264 

Secord, Mrs. Laura, 167, 168 

Shannon, British frigate, captures 
Chesapeake, 235, 236 

Sheaffe, Major-General, at Queens- 
ton Heights, 77-80; at the cap- 
ture of York, 138-44; succeeded 
by De Rottenburg, 179 

Sherbrooke, Sir John Cope, on the 
Penobscot, 356 

Smyth, General, 71; in command 
of the U.S. troops on the Niagara 
frontier, 86; his proclamations, 
87; invades Canada, 91; de- 
feated, 94; his spirit towards the 
Indians, 120, 170 

Somers, U.S. schooner, captured by 
the British, 292-4 

Spencer, Captain, General Brown's 
aide, 288 

Stephenson, Fort, Procter repulsed 
at, 180-2 

Stone, Colonel, of New York militia, 
270-1 

Stone, Colonel, ancj Mrs., 102 

Strieker, General, of the U.S. army, 
354 

Swift, Brigadier-General, of the 
New York volunteers, 270 

Swift, Colonel, of the New York 
volunteers, 212, 260, 274, 280 



Tannehill, General, of the Penn- 
sylvania volunteers, 88 

Taylor, Major, of the 6th, 332, 333 

Tecumseh, Indian chief, 53, 58, 60, 
121, 199 

Thames, river, British defeat on, 
199 



INDEX 



371 



Tigress, U.S. schooner, captured by 

the British, 305-6 
Tilden, Captain, 103, 104 
Totten, Major, 246, 250 
Towson, Captain, of the artillery, 

252, 260, 262, 276 
Tucker, Lieutenant-Colonel, 275, 

292 



United States declares war, 19; 

loans, 22; plans to invade Canada, 

23 
United States, American frigate, 

captures the Macedonian, 109 



Van Rensselaer, Major -General, 
commands the Niagara army, 23; 
to invade Canada, 66; at Fort 
Niagara, 70; his plan of invasion, 
71; strength of his army, 73; in- 
vades Canada, 73 ; on the heights, 
79; resigns his command, 86 

Van Rensselaer, Colonel, 67, 73, 
74, 75, 76, 123 

Vincent, Brigadier-General, on the 
Niagara frontier, 146; retires to 
Beaver Dam, 150, 158; at Stoney 
Creek, 160; again commands on 
the Niagara frontier, 203; at Bur- 
lington Heights, 221-2 

Voltigeurs, the, 26, 36, 100 

W 

Wadsworth, Colonel, 346, 348 
Wadsworth, General, 80, 86 
Warrington, Captain, of the Pea- 
cock, 338, 340 
Washington, city, occupied by 
British. 350; its public buildings 
burnt, 351 



Washington, President, proclaims 
neutrality, 2; dismisses Genet, 3 

Wasp, U.S. corvette, captures the 
Frolic, 110; and the Reindeer, 
338; compels the Avon to strike, 
338 

Wayne, Fort, 113 

Whelan, Captain, of the Royal 
Newfoundland Regiment, 90, 92 

Whinyates, Captain, of the Frolic, 
110 

Wilcox, the traitor, 223, 280 

Wilkes, Commodore, of the U.S. 
navy, 4 

Wilkinson, General James, com- 
mands the army of the north, 
170; plans the capture of Mon- 
treal, 179; arrives at Sacketts 
Harbour, 202; his army at Grena- 
dier Island, 203, 211; calls a 
council of officers at White 
Horse, 212; they decide to pro- 
ceed to Montreal, 213; at Wil- 
liamsburg, 214; at the battle of 
Chrystler's Field, 215-19; aban- 
dons the attack on Montreal, 219, 
220; his defeat at La Colle, 
240-58; attacks the conduct of 
Madison, 349 

Winchester, General, 114, 115, 116, 
117, 121 

Winder, General, 88; at Fort Erie, 
94; at Fort George. 148; pursues 
Vincent, 158; captured at Stoney 
Creek, 160; defends Washington, 
342, 344; at the battle of Bladens- 
burg, 345-9 

Wool, Major-General, 76, 210, 316 

Wolsey, Captain, of the U.S. army, 

257 
Worsley, Lieutenant, 303; captures 

Tigress and Scorpion, 304-6 



372 



THE WAR OF 1812 



Y 

Yeo, Sir James, of the Royal Navy, 
130; to command the fleet on 
Lake Ontario, 151; sets sail for 
Sacketts Harbour, 152; his fleet 
sighted at Forty Mile Creek, 164; 
defeats Chauncey on Lake On- 
tario, 176-8; strengthens his fleet 
and sets sail for Oswego, 252, 253 
the attack and capture, 253-6 
blockades Sacketts Harbour, 257 



is blockaded in Kingston by 

Chauncey, 311, 312; his comment 

on Captain Downie's failure, 326; 

again commands Lake Ontario, 

336 
York, capital of Upper Canada, 136; 

captured by Americans, 138-44; 

Americans plunder, 173-4 
Young, Lieutenant-Colonel, 100, 

155, 156 
Young, Major, 103 



ri55 79 




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